Guest essay by Eric Worrall

Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison has upset greens by refusing to set a net zero target. ScoMo is not concerned the net zero targets of trading partners will affect Aussie fossil fuel exports.

Australia defies international pressure to set emissions targets

By Eryk Bagshaw, Nick O’Malley and Mike Foley
Updated October 28, 2020 — 5.52pm

Prime Minister Scott Morrison says he will not be dictated to by other governments’ climate change goals, declaring he is not worried about the future of Australia’s exports despite four of the country’s top trading partners adopting net-zero emissions targets.

China, Japan, Britain and South Korea, which account for more than $310 billion in Australian annual trade between them, have all now adopted the emissions target by 2050 or 2060, ramping up pressure on Australia’s fossil fuel industry. Coal and natural gas alone are worth more than 25 per cent of Australia’s exports, or $110 billion each year.

“I am not concerned about our future exports,” Mr Morrison said on Wednesday. “Australia will set our policies here. Our policies won’t be set in the United Kingdom, they won’t be set in Brussels, they won’t be set in any part of the world other than here.”

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Read more: https://www.smh.com.au/politics/federal/australia-defies-international-pressure-to-set-emissions-targets-20201028-p569ed.html

While this development is encouraging, Scott Morrison is still publicly committed to the Paris Agreement, and still gives support to expensive green schemes like Snowy Mountains 2, a large dam and pumped hydro system which climate activists hope will easy the pain of adding more unreliable renewable capacity to Australia’s electric grid.

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