Australia - once a leader, now a laggard

Australia was once among the leaders in taking steps to mitigate climate change, it now slums it with the laggards.

The Guardian reports that Australia has become an “anti-climate” climate influence on international efforts to slow global warming.

In a story headed: “Australia slides down to the bottom on climate change performance index”, it was noted that we have dropped to close to bottom of a ranking of the world’s largest greenhouse gas emitters.

The ranking covers levels of emissions, renewable energy supply, trends in energy efficiency and climate policy, was developed by the thinktank, Germanwatch and Climate Action Network Europe and was discussed in the second week of the United Nations climate change negotiations in Warsaw, Poland.

Australia’s intention to repeal its carbon price brought about by the election of a government that is dismantling the rest of the country’s climate mitigation infrastructure has been stated as a reason for its falling status.