Beyond the climate spin

Panelists: Professor Warwick Mckibbin, Dr Liz Hanna, Alex Sloan, dr Frank Jotzo, Professor Will Steffen.

At the third forum in the Beyond the Spin: federal election discussion series , experts called on both sides of politics to stop the rhetoric and take urgent action on climate change.

Climate specialists from a range of disciplines including economics, law, science and policy urged the government to finalise a long term climate policy and put a price on carbon in order to avoid the consequences of global warming.

Professor Will Steffen, Executive Director of the ANU Climate Change Institute said that the real question policy makers need to ask is - what is the cost of inaction?

‘By inaction we mean anything that would take us beyond two degrees Celsius and all the associated changes. The costs of that are very large and they’re escalating - not just economic costs, but social costs and environmental costs,? he said.

‘This is the thing that the policy makers need to keep coming back to ’ how do we meet the two degree guardrail??

Professor Steffen said that in order to stay under a two degree rise in temperature we have to cut our emissions by three per cent every year until 2050. A four-year delay would mean annual cuts of five per cent. If the world waits until to 2020 for carbon reduction, cuts of 9.5 per cent are required.

‘Every year of delay from this point is crucial and there is a compelling case that if we slide and let it slip that there is no way any economy can meet the emissions cuts that are required.’

Dr Liz Hanna, who looks at the effect of climate change on population health, argued that climate change is a serious and emerging health issue and that there is a genuine interplay between human health, sustainability and Earth systems.

She said that an increase in mortality rates can be expected as temperatures continue to climb and pointed to recent heatwaves in Melbourne and Adelaide as examples.

Dr Frank Jotzo, economist at the ANU Crawford School and deputy director of the ANU Climate Change Institute, said that the critical next step is to begin to take the carbon out of the economy and the best way to do that is to put a price on carbon.

‘This is something that’s best done by the market. [The market] puts a price on carbon and every individual or business will tend to do what is profitable for them - once they‘re faced with the extra cost on carbon,’ he said. 

Professor Warwick McKibbin said that one of the reasons that both sides of politics shy away from carbon pricing is because they?re worried about the short term economic costs. But they need to get the perspective correct.

‘The short term carbon price is a pure cost to society ’ you pay more. The long term carbon price is the benefit a society can reap by undertaking changes to their behaviour and therefore making a profit out of those long term investments in technologies. The big issue is to get the long term price right in the economy,? he said.

The panel also included Bernard Keane from Crikey and Andrew MacIntosh from the ANU College of Law.

The final Beyond the Spin forum on leaders, parties and politics, moderated by 666 ABC Canberra Afternoons presenter Genevieve Jacobs will be held Monday August 16.

Watch or Listen to the first Beyond the Spin forum on asylum seekers.

Watch or Listen to the second Beyond the Spin forum on economics.