Things are grim at the aptly named 'Cape Grim'

Tasmania's Cape Grim.

News that atmospheric carbon dioxide levels have passed the globally significant milestone of 400 parts per million at the aptly named Cape Grim in Tasmania should be of concern to people everywhere.

The Age has long argued that the time for scepticism about human-induced climate change has passed; the scientific evidence is beyond reasonable doubt. On the crucial question of what is causing global warming, which has already pushed average temperatures about 1 degree above pre-industrial levels, the debate is over. As the United Nations conference in Paris in December showed, there is all but universal agreement on the need to act.

It is lamentable that almost 10 years after John Howard went to the 2007 election promising a market-based carbon pricing scheme his party rejects that path and is heading to an election with a policy viewed with scepticism around the globe.

Read today’s Editorial in the Melbourne Age - “Global warming: Grim news on carbon dioxide should compel change.”