Let me ask you a question, do you care about Climate Change? Are you concerned about the future of our environment? Do you ever consider the future we may be leaving our children?
And does this impact how you vote when choosing our elected governments, especially at a federal level?
What if I were to tell you that over the last 20 years we have made little to no true reduction in our carbon emissions? Even though we have spent billions of tax dollars, we are still no closer to our net-zero targets.
While our government spruiks that we are ‘on track’, we are actually moving further away from our targets, and just perhaps the so-called government ‘experts’ have no idea how to really fix it!
Let me explain….
What Climate Goals Have We Signed up For?
Australia has signed up to the global Paris Agreement to reach net-zero carbon emissions by the mid-this century, which for Australia means net-zero by 2050.
In the shorter term, we have set a goal that by 2030, there will be a 43% reduction in carbon emissions, compared to the emissions in 2005.
How are we tracking?
So with less than five years left, how are we going? In a word, crap!
The government will tell you that we are on track – that in 2025 we have reduced our carbon emissions by over 27% from 2005, and are on track to reach the 43% target.
But let me tell you we are nowhere near this figure – we are being lied to at best, or worse, the government is deliberately gaslighting the public!
The Truth About Our Climate Goals
The sad truth is that we have only reduced our true carbon emissions in Australia by 2-3% since 2005 – which is a long way from the 27% stated and even further from the 43% target of 2030.
In fact, in 2024, by Labour’s own reporting, our carbon emissions actually increased! The Electricity and Transport Sectors increased emissions by 2.2% and 1.9% respectively.
So what is really going on here?
I’m sure if you asked the average person what the goal here is, they would say, ‘to stop producing greenhouse gases’. This would mean zero, nada, zilch, nothing being produced and emitted into the atmosphere.
But according to our governments we use “net-zero“, which is the amount of greenhouse gases emitted into the atmosphere minus the amount removed. The problem is the ‘what and how it is removed’ is super hard to measure, and is about as loose as my son’s year-old undies!
And that, my friend, is where the shell game comes in…
Hiding the ‘Net-Zero’ Truth
Ever seen a professional trickster playing the ‘shell game’ with someone? You know, when you hide a small ball under one of three cups, shuffle the cups around, and you have to pick which one it is hiding under.
With amazing sleight of hand, the ball is never where you think it is. That is what the government is doing when measuring our progress on net-zero targets.
The starting figure of how much greenhouse gas was produced in 2005 has changed (upwards) a couple of times. This makes it look like we have reduced emissions more than we have.
But the biggest and sneakiest trick by far is the inclusion of a thing called Land Use, Land Use Change, and Forestry (LULUCF).
LULUCF is a mechanism to measure the use of land in a country. Is it a producer of greenhouse gases, eg farming, mining, housing, etc, or does it soak up carbon from the atmosphere, eg a forest or natural bush, etc?
How this is measured is incredibly tough and open to all sorts of variables and issues. It also gives the government huge wiggle room to affect the net-zero calculation.
If the way you measure land usage is changed, suddenly you have magically affected the net-zero calculation. And the beauty is, no one can actually tell if you’re lying or not!
Currently, the inclusion of Land Use Change contributes to over 25% of the supposed savings we have made towards our net-zero targets! In fact, this figure has been changed each year over the past five years to make things look better.
Imagine that. You get to reporting time for net-zero and realise there has been no reduction in carbon farted in the air, so you ‘adjust’ how you are calculating the land usage in Australia, and voilà, you are back on target.
Who Else Has Noticed This Climate Lie?
The problem is the average punter simply does not have the time to find out about this stuff. And quite frankly, I think most of us don’t care.
It’s only the retired types like me that have the time to scrape back the veneer and start to see the truth – would you like the red pill or the blue?
But the information is there in plain site. The government’s Climate Change Authority has said in it’s 2024 report;
Emissions are 28% lower than 2005 levels in total, with this fall having been driven almost entirely by reduced land clearing…
…Agriculture, built environment, resources, transport, industry and waste emissions combined are 13% above 2005 levels.
There are also a number of reputable groups who measure how countries are truly progressing on their climate targets. And they have certainly noticed that Australia is very loose with the truth.
The global Climate Action Tracker has rated Australia as “Insufficient” when it comes to our climate policies, and our probability of reaching our 2050 target as “poor”.
Climate Analytics have published articles on Australia’s accounting tricks being used to hide the lack of progress to achieve real targets.
Having said all that, it does amaze me that more mainstream media does not pick this up. It really is an amazing story of lying to the public about something so serious as to affect generations to come!
What Does All This Mean?
So why do I raise this? After all, it is news that will never be well received. To be told that the government has not solved the climate crisis is quite a frightening issue.
Well, I want people to know, without any doubts, that climate change issues are not being solved. We continue to bust through all the gates science has told us, and there is no evidence we will stop.
David Suzuki, one of the OG’s of climate and environmental issues, has now stated that he believes it is too late to reverse the climate change crisis. Not because we can’t, but because we have no appetite to.
“For me, what we’ve got to do now is hunker down.”
David Suzuki
David believes that we continue to put economics and politics over science. Our push for economic growth, and maintaining our high quality of living, drives us completely in the wrong direction.
Our trend to keep voting in governments who simply tell us what we want to hear, rather than aggressively addressing the reality, has destroyed our chances of winning the climate change battle.
Maybe that is what we want? Maybe we don’t want a government to tell us the truth? Maybe we are okay to ignore the science, and keep living our current lifestyles as long as we can.
What we need to at least acknowledge is that we have sold our children’s future, to afford the lifestyle and luxury we live today. This may just go down in history as the most selfish period in human existence.
Until next time…
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