23 May
2006 - A new report released today by the Australian
Minister for the Environment and Heritage, Senator
Ian Campbell, reveals that climate change may
be occurring at a more rapid rate than scientists
previously thought.
Senator Campbell said the report,
Stronger Evidence but New Challenges: Climate
Change Science 2001- 2005, analyses the latest
international research on climate change, including
new evidence that human activities were causing
climate change and that its impacts were already
being felt.
“Climate change is a global
problem that demands an effective global response.
This is too serious a matter for Australians to
be misled into believing that massive cuts to
Australian greenhouse gases on our own will have
any effect on global climate change,” Senator
Campbell said.
“Australia contributes just
1.4 per cent of global greenhouse gas emissions.
If we turned off all power stations in Australia,
the greenhouse gas emissions would be completely
replicated by the fast growth of China in just
11 months.”
The report states the risks
of reaching the high end of the Intergovernmental
Panel on Climate Change Third Assessment Report
(2001) projections – temperature rises of up to
5.8 degrees could be reached by the end of this
century.
“This is why the Australian
Government is working hard through global initiatives
such as the United Nations Climate Change Convention,
the Asia-Pacific Partnership on Clean Development
and Climate, and the G8 dialogue on Climate Change,
Clean Energy and Sustainable Development to build
an effective international response to this issue,”
Senator Campbell said.
“At the same time, we are addressing
our domestic responsibility by taking strong,
practical action. We have invested almost $2 billion
to reduce our greenhouse gas emissions, while
increasing our scientific understanding and our
ability to adapt to the impacts of climate change,”
he said.
Risk Management Guide
To help keep Australian businesses,
governments and communities one step ahead of
climate change, Senator Campbell also released
a new risk management guide and launched a series
of climate change risk management workshops in
capital cities.
“The workshops will help senior
business people understand the potential impacts
of climate change and the importance of factoring
those impacts into their business strategies,”
Senator Campbell said.
“The latest research says we
can expect more severe droughts and storms, as
well as changes in rainfall. This means it is
crucial that all sectors of the community start
to plan for potential impacts now.”
Attached is some background
information about the report, ‘Stronger Evidence
but New Challenges: Climate Change Science 2001-2005’,
and the ‘Climate Change Impacts and Risk Management:
A Guide for Business and Government’.
BACKGROUND:
Stronger Evidence but New Challenges:
Climate Change Science 2001 – 2005
The report was written by internationally
renowned Australian climate change scientist,
Professor Will Steffen, who is currently the Director
of the Centre for Resource and Environmental Studies
at the Australian National University.
The IPCC Third Assessment Report
(TAR), released in 2001, provided model-based
estimates that global temperatures would warm
by between 1.4 and 5.8°C by 2100.
‘Stronger Evidence but New Challenges’
synthesises research since 2001. It confirms the
patterns of climate change described in the TAR,
but concludes from the new evidence that there
is now a much greater risk of reaching or exceeding
the upper estimate (5.8°C) by the end of 2100.
A better understanding of the severity and rate
of climate change over the coming decades is crucial
to assessing the potential impacts on societies
and ecosystems, and to inform planning for how
best to adapt.
A copy of Stronger Evidence
but New Challenges: Climate Change Science 2001
– 2005, can be accessed at www.greenhouse.gov.au.
Climate Change Impacts and Risk Management: A
Guide for Business and Government
The workshops will be held in
each capital city between May 30 and June 14 are
aimed at company directors, senior managers and
specialist risk managers.
Workshops will be conducted
by the Australian Greenhouse Office (Department
of the Environment and Heritage), with presentations
from some of Australia’s leading climate scientists
and risk management experts.
The workshops will have a practical
focus, showing managers how to use the guide,
by working through two climate change scenarios
for 10 Australian regions to assist in the initial
risk assessment phase of the risk management process.
The scenarios have been prepared by the CSIRO.
The Australian Government is committed to providing
the public with the latest research on climate
change and the publication and workshops are part
of a $14.2 million National Climate Change Adaptation
Strategy to ensure Australia is well prepared
for the future.
Change Impacts and Risk Management:
A Guide for Business and Government is an essential
tool to manage risks from the unavoidable impacts
of climate change resulting from greenhouse gases
already in the atmosphere and includes the very
latest scientific thinking.
For more information, visit www.greenhouse.gov.au/impacts
