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| Cathy Alexander saw the Paris agreement as a "game changer" but could not foresee what the Australian Government was about to do in plumping for fossil fuels. |
“There was
exuberance, dancing on the stage, a sense of euphoria”, is how Peter Christoff
describes the ambience when the gavel went down at the 2015 climate
negotiations in Paris. The focus of Tuesday’s Climate Conversations, the first
in MSSI’s 2016 schedule, was to reflect on the outcomes of the Paris conference
and to dissect what was really achieved, what it means for Australia and the
world, and how to progress from here. The expert panel consisted of four MSSI
members, all of whom were on the ground in Paris, representing the University
of Melbourne: Peter Christoff, Robyn Eckersley, Cathy Alexander and Don Henry.
This post is a summary of the key issues raised by the panel.
Read the piece by Anita Talberg, of the Australian-German Climate and Energy
College, written for the Melbourne
Sustainable Society Institute - “After Paris—what now for climate policy and research?”
(“If you’re sniffing
the wind, the trend of history is heading towards stronger climate action”.
This was Cathy Alexander’s key message to Australian politicians.
She saw, “the Paris
Agreement is a game changer for Australia, albeit a slow-burning one”, but she
was not able to foresee the events of this week when the Australian Government
retreated to its bunker and plumped for the fossil fuel industry.
The Minister for
Industry, Innovation and Science, Christopher Pyne, announced creation of the
Energy Resources Growth Centre aimed at driving innovation, competitiveness and
productivity across the oil, gas, coal and uranium sectors.
The events and
jubilation of Paris are worse than a fading memory, they have been totally
forgotten – Robert McLean).
