DUTY OF CARE
DUTY OF CARE FOR PRESENT AND FUTURE GENERATIONS Do we have a right to dismiss our moral obligation toward future generations and to squander their future? What will it take for us to accept reality, take responsibility and minimise climate risk? Pressure is building from industry, business and civil society for a smarter way forward.
HOLDING BACK POTENTIAL has never been trendy or popular and is rarely a smart move especially when actions that preserve the status quo are harmful. As we write this, just weeks following the US Leaders’ Summit on Climate, the federal government is inking plans for a new 660 megawatt taxpayer-funded $600m, fossil gas-fired power plant in the Hunter Valley in New South Wales, a development that has been slammed as out of touch and reckless by climate action groups and the Smart Energy Council. “Astounding. In this day and age and hot on the heels of the Biden Climate Summit the federal government has the tenacity to announce a new fossil fuel plant that not only locks in harmful emissions that impact health and environment but also in a few short years becomes a stranded asset,” John Grimes said. Australia’s emissions are already the highest globally on a per capita basis. John Grimes said, the government needs to be held accountable for this preposterous decision. Every move, every power plant and all emissions count. Energy Security Board chair Kerry Schott stated “A taxpayer-funded gas-fired power station in the Hunter Valley makes little commercial sense, given there are cheaper alternatives like wind, solar, big batteries and pumped hydro already available.”
NSW Minister for Energy and Environment Matt Kean sent a powerful message about intergenerational justice when addressing the Smart Energy Conference
And speaking at the 2021 Smart Energy Conference Malcolm Turnbull told delegates “People who want to hang on to oil and gas are basically arguing for higher prices and emissions.” Why then? Perhaps an answer lies in the fact that Australia’s prominent gas players have allegedly donated in excess of $6 million to the two major political parties over the past decade; in the last two years alone peak gas lobby group APPEA bestowed almost $250,000.
Reality check In mid-2020, 25 scientists penned an open letter to then Chief Scientist, Alan Finkel expressing concern over his support for the use of gas as a transition fuel over “many decades” which is inconsistent with a safe climate and the Paris Agreement. The scientists noted too that the combustion of natural gas is now the fastest growing source of carbon dioxide to the atmosphere, the most important greenhouse gas driving climate change. Evidently the warning fell on deaf ears. And if we don’t listen to scientists what hope do we have of containing global warming to 1.5 degrees? To avoid the worst outcomes, we need to achieve net-zero emissions of greenhouse gases by 2050. The single most important step to tackle the climate crisis is phasing out coal from the electricity sector. Coal used in electricity generation needs to decrease by 80 per cent on 2010 levels by 2030. To maintain pace Australia needs to hasten the retirement of its coal plants. But according to Global Energy Monitor’s report, Australia is the worst offender after China in building new coal projects, with the equivalent of 31 million tonnes per annum under construction and 435 million mtpa in the pipeline – enough to double existing emissions. NSW Energy Minister Matt Kean says “People defending old technologies are the equivalent of defending Blockbuster in a Netflix world”. Others compare it to Kodak’s myopic and catastrophic failure to transition to the digital world. Even the conservative International Energy Agency is now calling for a total cessation of exploration for new fossil fuels and no new fossil fuel infrastructure, along with the retirement of all coal-fired power stations in advanced economies by 2030, and across the world by 2040. Australia remains stuck in a time warp through the failure of its elected officials to facilitate the transition to a low-cost clean alternative. No renewables targets, no firm date for net zero emissions. The absence of climate action
