Because climate change is seriously uncool.

Does the Huge China-Australia Coal Deal Square With the Copenhagen Accord?

I just came across a great article in the New York Times - it's rather long, but very interesting and well worth the read!

The article made me feel sad and angry all at once. Australia has just signed its biggest ever coal export contract with China. This contract will provide thousands of jobs and generate millions of dollars for Queensland, but more importantly, it will have significant climate ramifications.

While there is a lot of talk about developed countries taking historical responsibility for carbon emissions, who should take respsonsibility for current emissions? Who is to blame? Australia for selling the coal or China for purchasing it? Or do you try prescribed a percentile to both?

This is what Ailun Yang of Greenpeace China has to say: "It is hypocritical for Australia to on the one hand blame China for climate change and on the other hand try so hard to sell more coal to China." The deal, she said, "will only lock China further up in its unhealthy dependency on coal."

I'd be interested to hear what you think of the article, and your thoughts on the "responsibility" question.

- Cara

Tags: australia, change, china, climate, coal, cprs, environment, sustainability

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Comment by Ronnie Wright on February 19, 2010 at 10:42am: I think we have a moral obligation to take what ever action that is necessary to stop this madness. The government is not going to do it and all the hope in the world will not make a bit of difference. I think that we are at a point now where only direct action has a chance to work.

We can keep on voting as if there is someone to vote for that will bring about change (Hey Obama, where the hell is your hope now you turn coat bastard) when in reality all politicians are the same. Kevin Rudd and John Howard are the same. Barrack Obama and George W. Bush are the same. More of the same is not going to make a difference. Sure, they will throw us a few bones to keep us happy but all that will do is slow the destruction.

We can keep on handing out flyers, writing articles and holding rallies. But, guess what? Very few people are listening. It’s not working. It’s time for a new plan of action and not just more of the same ole thing.

What we need now is a real Green Revolution.

We are all eco-warriors now. Maybe it’s time we start acting like it.

Ronnie Wright
World Change Café

Comment by Bleeding heart on February 19, 2010 at 9:17am: This is akin to the issue of developed countries selling arms and nuclear weapons to developing countries and taking a moral stand when they decide to use them. You can't on one hand expect developing countries to scale down emissions while supplying coal on the other hand. Personally I think that all talk on protecting the environment by politicians is just an eye wash and a feeble attempt to placate the climate change lobby.

Comment by Jessie Wells on February 18, 2010 at 11:44am: Thanks Cara,
it's great to see some insightful quotes from Friends of the Earth and other NGOs in there!
There's so much to say and I don't want to take too much space on this page, so I'll give a link to a 'follow up' blog post:
Australia China Coal and Responsibility

Essentially, if we want Australia to be part of a global effort to reach a safer climate, then it is vital to question our promotion and perceived reliance on coal - and this tragic blindness to its real costs for us and for the countries to which we are sending this coal, and to the benefits of alternative energy sources and industries.
I believe we have a responsibility to find and share energy technologies that enable us to move away from the direct and climate-related environmental impacts of coal, and that Australia is better placed than almost anyone else to live up to this responsibility.

Comment by Andrew Mudie on February 18, 2010 at 9:43am: Cara, Thank you for an interesting article.
I think it's the height of hypocrisy that we, as one of the nations that rode the fossil fuel train to significant economic development, not only point the finger of blame for emissions at developing economies like China, but also continue to reap benefits by supplying the raw materials that produce those emissions. I believe it is impossible to reconcile a grandstanding claim about being "tough on climate change" with a paltry 5-25% emission cut target AND the expansion of Australian coal exports. I put those points as questions in a letter to Kevin Rudd and Penny Wong before Copenhagen. Not surprisingly, I've never received a reply.