Last Thursday our President David Spear, Board member Emma Connan and Climate Advocate Vicki Perrett attended a Climate Forum with Federal Minister for Climate Change Chris Bowen MP and local Member for Corangamite Libby Coker MP. The Forum was a briefing on the implementation progress of the Powering Australia Plan.
It’s pleasing to see substantial and steady progress being made towards the target of 43% renewable energy by 2030, and 100% by 2050 – yet there remains so much more to do in such a short space of time if we are to contain the harmful and costly impacts of global warming from spiralling out of control beyond 1.5 degrees celsius.
It’s only seven years (about 80 months) until 2030 so we all need to ramp up our focus and get cracking on the actions required to achieve these goals, or better them!
This forum also enabled Geelong Sustainability to clearly express its top priorities, which include:
1. No LNG import terminals in Corio Bay
2. Net Zero CO2e for our region by 2035
3. No new gas and coal mines
4. Redirection of fossil fuel subsidies to accelerate renewable energy and electrification
5. Policies accelerating investment in renewable generation, storage and transmission
6. Development of appropriately located Green Hydrogen industries to create new green collar jobs, economic growth, and the decarbonisation of heavy industries and transport
7. Strong and effective environmental laws to phase out emissions from heavy polluters
8. Strong and effective environmental laws to protect and regenerate biodiversity, and the capacity of our natural ecosystems to rapidly drawdown carbon.
We are grateful for the opportunity to participate in this forum and look forward to continued and constructive engagement on these issues.