Greg Hunt plain wrong on targets: IPCC confirms globe running out of time The just released IPCC

report re-confirms what most of us have now known for years: the world is warming and we are rapidly exhausting the carbon budget for a safe climate. Urgent and deep emission cuts globally are needed, leaving the Australian Government no option but to abandon Direct Action and take urgent and serious measures immediately, Australian Greens Leader Christine Milne said tonight. Greg Hunt is plain wrong to say that his 5% target is consistent with the drastic cuts required to stay within the carbon budget the worlds top climate scientists say must be met. He will be laughed out of the UNFCCC plenary if he even tries to spin that line, Senator Milne said. He is also absurdly wrong to say that the IPCC in any way supports the Coalitions plan to repeal carbon pricing. On the first day of the new parliament, the Greens will move for the Abbott government to provide a written response to the findings of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change report and how it intends to respond to UN Secretary Generals call for countries to bring strong pledges to a UN summit next year ahead of 2015 treaty negotiations and for that report to be tabled. I will also move for an urgent debate into the IPCCs confirmation that we need to drastically reduce emissions and flick the switch to renewables to have any hope of constraining warming to 2 degrees. The IPCC makes it clear that the total carbon budget is 1 trillion tonnes, that half has gone already and that it will be exhausted entirely by 2043 if nothing changes. This highlights why coal from Galilee and Bowen Basins should stay in the ground. Minister Hunt needs to explain why he thinks it is fair for wealthy nations like Australia which collectively have the greatest historical responsibility for global warming, as well as relatively high per capita emissions should not cut emissions faster and deeper than his pathetic 5%. Prime Minister Abbott must now reverse his decision to axe the Climate Change Authority, whose job it is to make recommendations about fair and science-based emission reduction targets for Australia within the permissible

global carbon budget. Similarly he must retain the Clean Energy Finance Corporation whose mission is to support commercialisation of emerging clean energy technology. Both of these institutions are proving highly effective. The IPCC also makes it clear that we can still achieve the 2 degree goal, but only just. As a global community we are out of time. Its now or never. Politicians must repudiate the narrow, short-term vested interest of the fossil fuel industry and instead lead on behalf of the broader community and in particular to protect the interests of those yet to be born. Due to clever anti-science campaigns, funded by the fossil fuel lobby, and through the echo chamber of the Murdoch press Australians have been led to believe that climate change is not a real or urgent threat. The trend must now be reversed especially as the IPCC report predicts more frequent and intense rainfall events over most mid latitude landmasses and over wet tropical regions by the end of the century, that means floods and that means us. Australians must be prepared for what is already locked in as well as to reduce further risk through adaptation. Its clear, climate change will be Tony Abbotts defining challenge. His legacy is dependent on the extent to which he can set aside his anti-science ideology and instead take expert scientific and economic advice. To knowingly refuse to act in the face of the evidence presented in the IPCC report is a crime against future generations. Media contact: Peter Stahel 0437 587 562