As the Coalition and Labor inch closer on emissions, are Australia’s climate wars ending
If a week is a long time in politics, three years is a geological age. Long-held assumptions can change dramatically in that time. Just ask theIn 2018, before the last federal election, the lobby group representing 100 of the country’s biggest businesses described a Labor pledge to cut greenhouse gas emissions by 45% by 2030 as “economy wrecking”. The Coalition’s more modest and less scientifically based goal of a 26-28% cut was deemed “appropriate and achievable”.
Some observers have wondered if this is how the “climate wars” end, having helped bring down multiple political leaders on both sides and held back policy for more than a decade. Political disagreements and attacks will continue, but will the potency of a dishonest campaign over emissions policy have diminished by the time next year’s election rolls around?Analysts mostly say: let’s not get ahead of ourselves.
Frank Jotzo, professor of climate change economics at the Australian National University Crawford School of Public Policy, says the centre of debate has shifted and bipartisan support for a net zero target opened “many, many opportunities and really changes the tone of the debate”. Unanswered questions about the 2022 campaign include whether News Corp newspapers, which have run misleading campaigns against the cost of climate policies and attacked the scientific consensus, have moved on since launching a “mission zero” series on climate before the Glasgow summit or will return to their old ways.Photograph: Alex Ellinghausen/AAP
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