Extract from The Guardian
Anote Tong says freeze
on new coalmines before global climate summit in December ‘easiest,
most reasonable’ way to help reduce emissions
Photograph:
The Australia Institute
Thursday
19 November 2015 16.16 AEDT
The
president of the Pacific Island nation of Kiribati,
Anote Tong, has urged the Australian government to support a
moratorium on new coalmines before the global climate summit in Paris
in December.
Tong,
who was in Melbourne for a public meeting hosted by the Australia
Institute on Thursday, said it was the “easiest, most reasonable”
measure world leaders could commit to to reduce emissions.
“It’s
a sensible step that makes not just environmental sense, but complete
economic sense,” Tong said.
The
prime minister, Malcolm Turnbull, said last
month that a moratorium on Australian coal exports “would
make not the blindest bit of difference to global emissions”
because importers would simply buy it from elsewhere.
But
Tong said some countries’ reliance on coal did not mean mines
needed to be built.
“There
are countries in the north and south who cannot survive without the
use of coal,” Tong said.
“I
understand that. But if the global community is genuinely committed
to reducing the impacts of climate change … coal is undoubtedly the
worst of the fossil fuels.
“Let’s
begin somewhere. I thought perhaps this was the most reasonable way
to begin.”
He
described the Australian government’s support of Adani’s proposed
$16bn Carmichael mine in Queensland as “disturbing”.
Tong
said the impact of climate change was already harming the Pacific
islands, where sea levels were rising, forcing communities to move
and threatening societies and livelihoods.
Last
month 61
prominent Australians signed an open letter supporting
Tong’s push for a global moratorium on new coalmines, including the
nobel laureate Prof Peter Doherty, a former Australian of the year,
Prof Fiona Stanley, and Wallaby David Pocock.
No comments:
Post a Comment