We can't bank our future on Malcolm Turnbull's climate change magic pudding

Malcolm Turnbull's - 'climate
change magic pudding'.

Malcolm Turnbull’s climate change record is the equivalent of an athlete running 7km instead of 42km and claiming to be the greatest marathon runner of all time. Not only is he taking shortcuts, he’s setting future generations up for a massive clean-up bill.

This is because Australia is banking its environmental and fiscal future on a climate change magic pudding.

In 2008, departmental projections estimated that we would have to cut cumulative emissions of greenhouse gases by 1,335 megatons of carbon dioxide equivalent (MtCO2) between 2013 and 2020. This has been successively revised down to 236Mt. This makes the government’s task of cutting emissions so much easier.

According to the environment department, the projections have fallen because of lower electricity demand, the drought, lower manufacturing output due to factory closures and weaker than expected coal prices leading to lower production. In short, our underperforming economy has meant we’re producing fewer emissions than we expected.

Read Pat Conroy’s story on The Guardian - “We can't bank our future on Malcolm Turnbull's climate change magic pudding.”