COP26-Sabotaging Australia World’s Worst For Climate Policy

The COP26 UN Climate Change Conference in Glasgow has failed to requisitely respond to the worsening Climate Crisis with national action pledges promising a catastrophic plus 2.4 degrees Centigrade (+2.4C) temperature rise. However COP26 has at least identified the worst culprits. Thus, unveiled at COP26, the 2022 Climate Change Performance Index (CCPI) has ranked climate criminal Australia worst in the world out of 64 polluting countries for climate policy.

The 2022 CCPI covers 64 countries generating 92% of global Greenhouse Gas (GHG) emissions, and ranks them from Very High to Very Low across 4 categories – Climate Policy, Greenhouse Gas (GHG) Emissions, Renewables and Energy Use . Climate criminal Australia is ranked Very Low for performance in all 4 key areas, and was the only country to score zero (0) on Climate Policy for many reasons, very likely including the 30 set out below:

(1). Racist ignoring of “per capita” GHG pollution and the right of the global South to a decent life (in terms of population, “GDP per capita” and “tonnes CO2-equivalent per person per year” we can compare China (1,400 million, $11,800 and 7.4), India (1,390 million, $2,190, and 2.1) and Australia (26 million, $63,000 and 53 or 116 with its exports included).

(2). Australia totally rejects a Price on Carbon (a damage-related and inescapable $200 per tonne CO2-equivalent but a global applied average of only $2).

(3). Australia rejected the multi-national COP26 plan for cutting methane (CH4) emissions 30% by 2030 (Australia has huge methanogenic coal, gas and livestock industries).

(4) Australia supports the COP26 ban on “deforestation” but is a world leader in land clearing (as well as in the massive collateral speciescide and ecocide).

(5). Australia has an unchanged “26-28% off 2005 by 2030” target (Australian Greens: “For a 2 degree goal, the targets would need to be at least 50% below 2005 levels by 2030 and net zero by 2045”) .

(6). Pentecostal Christian Australian PM Morrison believes in “miracles” and has “faith” in a “technological miracle” (the worst expression of the Coalition’s anti-science stance).

(7). The Australian Government lies about “gas is cleaner than coal” (yet at 3% systemic leakage as in the US, gas use is dirtier GHG-wise than coal use).

(8). The Australia Government lies about “renewable, clean and safe” nuclear energy (but nuclear is dirty, expensive, dangerous, non-renewable and, fission aside, a major CO2 polluter).

(9) The Australia Government promotes the expensive Carbon Capture and Storage (CCS) pipedream (very expensive and accordingly yet to be adopted on a big scale – it is vastly cheaper not to pollute in the first place).

(10). The mendacious Australian Government falsely claims that Australia is meeting its pollution reduction commitments (but it ignores Australia’s huge GHG Exports and fraudulently under-estimates CH4 emissions).

(11). Australia is considering 100 new fossil fuel projects to increase annual GHG pollution by 1.7 Gt CO2-equivalent (a slap in the face for an existentially climate change-threatened world).

(12). The National Party of Australia’s ruling Coalition is fervently committed to fossil fuel and methanogenic livestock exploitation (its non-Indigenous rural constituency was historically involved in massive genocide, speciescide and ecocide, and its mining backers are complicit in a worsening global climate genocide). .

(13). The Australian Coalition Government’s absurd gas-led post-Pandemic recovery (gas use is dirtier GHG-wise than coal use).

(14). Australia is committed to leading the world in coal and gas exports and is among world leaders in 16 areas of climate criminality (for details see the reference provided at the end).

(15). Climate terrorist and carbon terrorist Australia resolutely ignores its 85,000 victim complicity in 10 million annual air pollution deaths (the full scale, life-time Adani coal mine operation will eventually kill 1.4 million Indians).

(16) Australia ignores all but 7 of 38 partial solutions to the climate crisis set out in “Climate Crisis, Climate Genocide & Solutions” by Gideon Polya (and ignores key caveats to these 7 partial solutions; for details see the reference at the end).

(17). Australia trying to block a UNESCO coral report reference to +1.5C (at +1.5C 97% of coral will die, and at a now inevitable +2C 99% of coral will die).

(18). The mendacious Australian Coalition Government calls “dirty” and “lower emissions” “clean” (even “clean” hydrogen from renewable-based electrolysis can be methanogenic by scavenging CH4-removing atmospheric hydroxyl radicals).

(19). Idiotic proclamation and immediate violation of a “technology not taxation” post-COP26 climate policy (huge taxpayer subsidies for GHG polluting industries).

(20). Dishonest “socialism for the rich” post-COP26 electric vehicle (EV) policy (supporting EV chargers for rich EV owners but not EV accessibility for the poor).

(21). Endless Orwellian lying, obfuscation, un-reason and gross semantic violation over “clean”, “cleaner” and “low emissions” technology (“cleaner” and “lower emissions” technologies are still “dirty”).

(22). Refusal to announce how exactly it will achieve “zero net emissions by 2050” (anti-science pre-election spin instead of science-informed rationality).

(23). Use of crude pejorative abuse to diminish the science-informed young (“go back to school”) and professionals (“inner city latte sippers”) proposing rapid and substantial action to save the planet.

(24). Lying by omission and commission over Australia’s huge Domestic plus Exported GHG pollution (variously estimated as 5-9% of the world’s total; Australians represent 0.3% of the world’s population).

(25). Ignoring the right to life and property of Island Nations and Indigenous Australians (tropical islands face inundation from sea level rise and high energy storms; impoverished Indigenous Australians face a worsening threat of death from heat stress).

(26). Australian commitment to mindless neoliberalism-driven economic and population growth (an American life-style for all of Humanity means we would need 7 planets).

(27). The Australian Coalition Government is to subsidize 2 new gas-fired power stations (gas use is dirtier GHG-wise than coal use; I was a pro bono public expert witness in a huge law case about one of these projects).

(28). The Australian Coalition Government’s shameless Big Lying about a “plan” for a non-achieved “net zero by 2050” (an adumbrated “80% off” is not “100% off”; cf Big Brother in George Orwell’s “1984”: “2 plus 2 does not equal 4”).

(29). The Australian Government commitment to pointless dirty jobs (huge subsidies for major GHG polluters and nice but unnecessary hospitality, tourism and air transport; hostility to vital teaching and learning from infant care to universities and 40,000 university staff sacked during the COVID-19 Pandemic).

(30). Australian Coalition Government un-reason and pointlessness in relation to the future (neoliberalism gone mad in a worsening Idiocracy and a world existentially threatened by climate change and nuclear weapons).

The COP26 failure effectively confirms that the world has effectively run out of time to avoid a catastrophic plus 2C temperature rise. What can decent folk do to minimize massive harm to their children, grandchildren and future generations? Decent Australians must utterly reject the climate criminal Coalition, vote 1 Green and put the Coalition last. Island Nations, tropical countries and an increasingly climate-impacted World will apply Boycotts, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS), Climate Tariffs, International Criminal Court (ICC) prosecutions, and International Court of Justice (ICJ) litigations against remorselessly speciescidal, ecocidal and climate criminal countries like Australia. Please disseminate this message to everyone you can (for details and documentation see Gideon Polya, “COP26 Disaster: 2022 Climate Change Performance Index Ranks Australia Worst For Policy”, Countercurrents, 14 October 2021: https://countercurrents.org/2021/11/cop26-disaster-2022-climate-change-performance-index-ranks-australia-worst-for-policy/ ).

Yours sincerely, Dr Gideon Polya, Melbourne, Australia.

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