RACE TO ZERO
THE WORLD TURNS TO
GREENER PASTURES
The Smart Energy Council’s two-day Global Race to Zero Summit heard from a host of high-profile local and international presenters calling for pragmatic policies and accountable actions to address climate change. THE SMART ENERGY COUNCIL’S Global Race to Zero Summit delivered a smorgasbord of passion, pleas and emotion from 80 diverse presenters including UN/COP26 Climate Champions, Ambassadors, business and industry, government ministers, scientists, environment reporters as well as sport stars and comedians. Here we unpack some of the key messages that followed former Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull’s powerful opening statement: “The stakes have never been higher”. Why so? Under existing trajectories, the globe is on a ‘woeful’ path to 2.7 degrees warming and can only be reined in if we cut emissions by 45 per cent by 2030, he said. It’s a more realistic figure that is well up on the Coalition’s current 28 per cent. Even then, 45 per cent may not be enough. According to climate scientists, emissions reduction targets of 50 to 70 per cent by 2030 are necessary to help contain global warming to two degrees. Once warming hits two
GLOBAL RACE TO ZERO VIRTUAL SUMMIT
12 SUMMER 2021
degrees, they say, Sydney and Melbourne temperatures would commonly reach 50 degrees and the mercury would routinely rise upwards of 40 degrees, grain crops would struggle under prolonged droughts and, tragically, the frequency of bushfires would prevent regeneration. Harsh, very harsh. This data highlights the magnitude of what is a very bleak outlook, yet not fully grasped by many in power. Australia, says Turnbull, is ideally placed to cease coal production by 2040 due to the rapid and continued fall in the cost of renewable energy but we must find the will to grasp the opportunity. “We are short of the scarcest resource – federal leadership. But as Prince Charles said, this is our last chance saloon. Glasgow must be the galvanising inflection point. “But let’s not lose hope. Most Australians want faster cuts and higher ambitions and business, which is driven by economics, is overwhelmingly committed as are Australian states each with a target of Net Zero by 2050.”
