SYDNEY, 15 April 2021 – With regards to recent media coverage surrounding the Paris Agreement targets of capping global warming at 1.5 degrees, Greenpeace Australia Pacific CEO David Ritter said:In Paris, in 2016 the governments of the world promised to limit global warming to well below 2, preferably to 1.5 degrees Celsius, compared to pre-industrial levels. That promise remains binding.
Australia and the Pacific are on the very front lines of the climate crisis. Floods, rising sea levels, heatwaves, bushfires, mass bleaching of the Great Barrier Reef – we all experience the impacts of global warming on a regular basis, and without swift action to tackle coal, oil and gas as the main cause, this will only get worse.
The most important message from the scientific community is unanimous: countries and companies around the world must act with the urgency required to rapidly reduce emissions and drive fossil fuels out of our society.
What we urgently need is swift and decisive action to get Australia to net-zero by 2035 at the absolute latest – this does not change, and Greenpeace will continue to fight for this every step of the way.
With the Biden Climate Summit coming up next week it is imperative that the Australian Federal Government finally step up and stop holding back action on climate change.
The scientific community is absolutely clear, we must act with urgency on the climate emergency and make deep emissions cuts this decade That means we must take swift and decisive action to get climate-wrecking fossil fuels like coal, oil and gas out of our society, and get Australia to net-zero by 2035 at the absolute latest.
There is no technical or policy reason why every government on earth cannot move forward with a Paris-compatible transition plan for the good of people and nature. Our leaders must step up and show political will in the face of their own commitments and the planetary emergency. We expect governments to keep their promise.
For more information please contact Head of Communications Nelli Stevenson on 0428 113 346 or email [email protected]
