Responsible climate change action (450ppm) will see Australia's wealth increase by the same amount in 2020 as if weak targets (550ppm) are adopted-only eight months later, Australian Greens Leader Bob Brown said today.
"The Garnaut report shows that our economy will continue to grow strongly regardless of whether we pursue ambitious or weak targets. In fact, either way the cost is negligible," Senator Brown said.
"Kevin Rudd tackling dangerous climate change will cost average Australian households $290 per annum out of their $20,000 per annum increases in wealth in 2020.
"As Sir Nicholas Stern has said, those economies that prosper in the next century will be the green economies-those economies which pursue green-collar jobs in renewable energy, energy efficiency and other green innovations.
"Prime Minister Rudd should reject Ross Garnaut's timid political analysis and insist Australia and the world aim at curbing greenhouse gas emissions by 2015, stabilising below 450 parts per million of carbon dioxide equivalents in the Earth's atmosphere. This is economically responsible and morally imperative.
"The Garnaut option of 550 ppm will see the loss of the Great Barrier, Kakadu and Ningaloo Reef, as well as the Australian Alps, and lead to 10 metre sea level rises - that's unthinkable.
"Many people have argued that solving the climate emergency risks crashing the economy. Garnaut has quashed that lie. By choosing the more ambitious option we forgo less than a dollar a day, even though our incomes will continue to rise.
"There is no bailout option for the planet, like there is for Wall Street. If the world can take massive action to save Wall Street within weeks, it should take urgent action to save the planet. That action should start with Kevin Rudd," Senator Brown said.
Ebony Bennett
Media Advisor
Senator Bob Brown | Leader of the Australian Greens
e: ebony.bennett@aph.gov.au
m: 0409 164 603 | p: (02) 6277 3170 | f: (02) 6277 3185
w: www.bobbrown.org.au <http://www.bobbrown.org.au/> <http://www.greens.org.au>