Garnaut Climate Change Review
The Garnaut Climate Change Review was commissioned by former Prime Minister of Australia, Kevin Rudd, [14] and by the Australia's state and territory governments on 30 April 2007. After his election on 24 November 2007 the Rudd, confirmed the participation of the Commonwealth Government in the review.
The final report was released on 30 September 2008 [15] and recommended that Australia should indicate at an early date its preparedness to play its full, proportionate part in an effective global agreement that 'adds up' to either a 450 or a 550 emissions concentrations scenario, or to a corresponding point between.
Australia’s full part for 2020 in a 450 scenario would be a reduction of 25 per cent in emissions entitlements from 2000 levels. For 2050, reductions would be 90 per cent from 2000 levels (95 per cent per capita). Australia’s full part for 2020 in a 550 scenario would be a reduction in entitlements of 10 per cent from 2000 levels. For 2050, reductions would be 80 per cent from 2000 levels or 90 per cent per capita. If there is no comprehensive global agreement at Copenhagen in 2009, Australia, in the context of an agreement among developed countries only, should commit to reduce its emissions by 5 per cent (25 per cent per capita) from 2000 levels by 2020, or 13 per cent from the Kyoto compliance 2008–2012 period. [16]
The report's recommendations in terms of policy, apart from a Carbon Pollution Reduction Scheme which included forestry and agriculture, centred heavily on hoping that carbon capture and storage and other coal pollution mitigation technologies would be available on a wide scale within the next twenty years.
The report was criticised by the Australian Chamber of Commerce & Industry for the economic impact that reducing greenhouse gas emissions would have. [17] It was also heavily criticised by environmental organisations, including Friends of the Earth [18] and Rising Tide Australia. [19] The Australian Conservation Foundation praised the report for advocating a 450 ppm target. [20] Clive Hamilton was heavily critical of the report, arguing that it reduced global expectations of what should be aimed for, naively exposed Australia's negotiating tactics to the international diplomatic sphere, alienates both the Australian public and the international community, misjudges the time frames necessary to avoid dangerous climate change, gives Australia numerous special deals, and would be rejected by the international community. [21]
Responses from political parties were mixed. Australian Greens leader Bob Brown showed that the report demonstrated that reducing greenhouse gas emissions would not come at the expense of Australia's economic growth. [22] Climate Change Minister Penny Wong did not comment directly on the report but said that economic responsibility needed to be considered in responding to the report, and that the Government would wait before Treasury modelling on climate change mitigation before responding. [23]
In November 2010 the Minister for Climate Change and Energy Efficiency commissioned Professor Garnaut to update his 2008 Garnaut Climate Change Review. [24] Eight papers were released in February and March 2011 [25] and the final report of the Garnaut Climate Change Review Update 2011 was presented to the Government on 31 May 2011. [5]
In September 2010, Professor Garnaut was appointed as an independent expert advisor to the Multi-Party Climate Change Committee. [26] The committee will explore options for the implementation of a carbon price and will help to build consensus on how Australia will tackle the challenge of climate change.
Garnaut on nuclear power
In 2008, Garnaut was of the opinion that nuclear was not obviously necessary in Australia's low carbon energy future. He told the media: "Nuclear energy is an important part of the global response to a low-carbon economy, but under Australian circumstances, it is not obvious that nuclear is an important part of our answer." [27]
His position on the matter was countered by Ziggy Switkowski, leader of the 2006 UMPNER Review, and an advocate for nuclear power in Australia.
Garnaut considers nuclear power to be a "low emissions" energy source, given its negligible emissions of carbon dioxide to the atmosphere during plant operation. As such, he supports nuclear power as part of global efforts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions especially given rising energy consumption in Asia. He has also publicly noted China's commitment to expanding its fleet of nuclear reactors, even in the wake of the Fukushima disaster. [28] [29]
