The greenhouse effect is the process by which radiation from a planet's atmosphere warms the planet's surface to a temperature above what it would be without this atmosphere.
The Australian Greenhouse Office (AGO) was formed in 1998 within the Government of Australia as a stand-alone agency within the environment portfolio to provide a whole of government approach to greenhouse matters. It was the world's first government agency dedicated to cutting greenhouse gas emissions, managed Australia's response to climate change, and provided government-sanctioned information to the public.
"Greenhouse Mafia" is the title of a TV program aired by the ABC on the 13 February 2006 episode of its weekly current affairs program Four Corners. The program says the term greenhouse mafia is the "in house" name used by Australia’s carbon lobby for itself. The program featured former Liberal Party member Guy Pearse and Four Corners host Janine Cohen, while others concerned about the influence exerted by the fossil fuel lobby also participated. The report was based on a thesis Pearse wrote at the Australian National University between 1999 and 2005 regarding the response of Australian business to global warming. According to the program, lobby groups representing the coal, car, oil, and aluminium industries have wielded their power to prevent Australia from reducing its greenhouse gas emissions, which were already among the highest per capita in the world in 1990.
Prime Ministerial Task Group on Emissions Trading was a Task Group set up on 10 December 2006 by Australian Prime Minister John Howard to develop an Australian Carbon Trading Scheme. The terms of reference of the task group was:
The Lavoisier Group is an Australian organisation formed by politicians and dominated by retired industrial businesspeople and engineers. It does not accept the science of global warming and works to influence attitudes of policy makers and politicians. The organisation downplays the risk of the effects of global warming, rejects the scientific conclusion that human activity causes it, and opposes policies designed to curtail it. Some members regard climate change as a "scam."
Scorcher: The Dirty Politics of Climate Change is a 2007 book by Clive Hamilton which contends that Australia rather than the United States is the major stumbling block to a more effective Kyoto Protocol. In the final chapter of the book Hamilton argues that "the Howard Government has been actively working to destroy the Kyoto Protocol".
The Minister for Energy and Emissions Reduction is an Australian Government Cabinet position with the duties of serving the people of Australia by developing a more prosperous and sustainable Australia by leading and coordinating the mitigation of greenhouse gas emissions, promotion of energy efficiency, adaptation to climate change and shaping of global solutions.
Professor Ross Garnaut led two climate change reviews, the first commencing in 2007 and the second in 2010.
Ray Evans was an Australian business leader, a conservative, and campaigner against climate change mitigation efforts.
This is a list of climate change topics.
Living in the Hothouse: How Global Warming Affects Australia is a 2005 book by Professor Ian Lowe which is a sequel to his Living in the Greenhouse (1989). The book presents a detailed analysis of climate change science and the likely impact of climate change in Australia. Living in the Hothouse also offers a critical overview of the Howard government's policy response to climate change in Australia.
According to non-governmental organisations such as Greenpeace and global scientific organisations such as the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, the frequency and intensity of disasters brought about by greenhouse gas emissions and climate change will grow rapidly in the world. The risks are particularly severe in some regions of Australia, such as the Great Barrier Reef in Queensland, the Macquarie Marshes in New South Wales. The Department of Climate Change said in its Climate Change Impacts and Costs fact sheet: "...ecologically rich sites, such as the Great Barrier Reef, Queensland Wet Tropics, Kakadu Wetlands, Australian Alpine areas, south-western Australia and sub- Antarctic islands are all at risk, with significant loss of biodiversity projected to occur by 2020". It also said: "Very conservatively, 90 Australian animal species have so far been identified at risk from climate change, including mammals, insects, birds, reptiles, fish and amphibians from all parts of Australia." Australia is already the driest populated continent in the world.
Australia has one of the highest per capita emissions of carbon dioxide in the world, with its 0.3% of the world's population releasing 1.3% of the world's greenhouse gases. It was 18.3 tonnes per year per person and the 11th highest in the world per capita in 2009. Australia uses principally coal power (70%) for electricity, with the remainder mainly gas, with no nuclear, low levels of hydro power, and low, but increasing, levels of solar, wind and wave power.
Enele Sosene Sopoaga PC is a Tuvaluan diplomat and politician who has been Prime Minister of Tuvalu since 2013.
The Special Report on Global Warming of 1.5 °C (SR15) was published by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) on 8 October 2018. The report, approved in Incheon, South Korea, includes over 6,000 scientific references, and was prepared by 91 authors from 40 countries. In December 2015, the 2015 United Nations Climate Change Conference called for the report. The report was delivered at the United Nations' 48th session of the IPCC to "deliver the authoritative, scientific guide for governments" to deal with climate change.
