All this Hoo-ha about the Sydney Declaration is quite disturbing. We have JWH beating his chest from the steps of the Opera House claiming his aspirational targets that form the basis of the Sydney Declaration as a 'win for combatting Climate Change'. "Aspirational" appears to be JWH's new favourite catchphrase of late but I'm not entirely convinced.
Alexander Downer (aka. 'Captain Honesty') summed up aspirational targets best when he made the following statement only a few months ago at the Monash APEC lecture.....
"I think you have to face up to the fact that, within the APEC group, there are Economies… that believe in setting CO2 emission targets, by particular dates. Some of them, of course, are just aspirational targets: which is code for “a political stunt”. An aspirational target is not a real target at all.”
Don Henry from the Australian Conservation Foundation was not impressed with the delcaration and had the following to say about it:
"Today's declaration does not advance global discussions on climate change. History shows vague aspirational goals do not lead to reductions in greenhouse emissions. The Kyoto Protocol was established precisely because the aspirational targets of the early 90s failed to stop the spiralling rise in global emissions."
It seems he is not the only person to have concerns about the declaration either:
"If this statement is the platform we build future climate change action on, the world is in trouble because this is a statement with no recognition of binding targets, it has no targets for the future. Without binding targets for developed countries, it's little more than a political stunt by the prime minister."
Greenpeace spokeperson Catherine Fitzpatrick.
"The Sydney declaration with its emphasis on aspirational targets will not avoid dangerous climate change. Worse, by muddying the waters, by creating the appearance that there's some alternative to the extension and strengthening of the Kyoto protocol, the Sydney declaration is actually an unhelpful development in international affairs and that's why we have called it the 'Sydney distraction'."
Greenpeace spokesman Ben Pearson.
"It's certainly much weaker than we would have hoped for, even as a worst case scenario. The agreement falls so far short of what's required in terms of action on climate change, that these leaders should hang their head in shame."
Brett Solomon, Executive Director of GetUp.org
"The idea that we've saved the planet, George Bush and John Howard, is so absurd, The Sydney declaration is vacuous, it's just hot air, it's not action."
Greens senator Bob Brown.
I'm no environmental guru but it seems pretty disingenuous to me that HowardCorp would set out to create an entirely new set of 'targets' (albeit aspirational ones) in this an election year where Climate Change is a big issue, as a means to avoid having to sign the Kyoto Protocol and then claim it as some kind of victory.
A victory for who exactly? Big Business? The Economy? The Coal Industry?
From what I can ascertain it's not a victory at all - its a total cop-out, a political stunt and yet another malicious attempt by HowardCorp to sabotage Kyoto. If he was serious about addressing the problem he would sign the Kyoto Protocol and get on with it. As pointed out by Ben Pearson from Greenpeace, real action on climate change does not involve setting 'Aspirational Targets'.....
"Real action on climate change means moving away from coal and shifting to clean, renewable energy – and we don’t have the luxury of time for expensive talkfests that have no concrete outcomes. Like any dealer protecting its patch, Australia’s government under John Howard is blatantly ignoring global efforts to extend and strengthen Kyoto, the only internationally binding agreement to deal with climate change – and pushing instead a hopelessly vague distraction through APEC.”
This is serious business, if the leaders of this country don't have what it takes to enact some real change then we need to find someone who can. The ALP under Kevin Rudd are
committed to ratifying Kyoto as part of their policy on climate change - unlike HowardCorp who seeks only to undermine it. It seems to me to be a damn good start and yet another reason why we need to get rid of the current government and replace it with one who is willing to tackle the problem in an informed and sensible manner.
Bring on the election, it's time to get rid of these idiots.
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Photo: Newcastle, Sunday 2nd September 2007. Greenpeace activists enter the world's biggest coal port at Newcastle and paint the message "Australia Pushing Export Coal" on the side of a coal ship. The message was part of a peaceful protest to expose the Howard Government's real APEC agenda: to protect Australia's coal export industry by undermining the Kyoto Protocol.Picture courtesy of
Indybay.org]
