Climate Change 1

Student Name : Muhammad Kashif

Student id : 220056623
File name : Climate Change Survey Data Analysis of Australia

Climate Change Survey Data Analysis of Australia

 Climate Change 2

Table of Contents

Climate change is fueling Australia's election campaign................................................................3

Common signs of climate change....................................................................................................3
An Overall View of “Monthly Payment” spend per month............................................................4
New heat records almost every day.................................................................................................4
Between lack of water and monsoon-like rains...............................................................................4
“Monthly Payment” vs “Concerned”...............................................................................................5
There are several triggers for forest fires.....................................................................................5
Climate Change Affordability Measures.........................................................................................5
FINANCIAL COMMITMENTS STILL NON-BINDING.........................................................6
Climate Change Views....................................................................................................................6
SOLAR ENERGY: SAFE HARVEST WITH CLEAN ELECTRICITY...................................6
MAKE YOUR CONTRACT WITH THE SUN.........................................................................6
Renewable energies in Australia are on the rise..........................................................................6
New government targets..................................................................................................................7
References........................................................................................................................................7
 Climate Change 3

Climate change is fueling Australia's election campaign

The ruling Conservatives in Australia under Prime Minister Scott Morrison are facing political
end after nearly six years in power. The increasing fear of the effects of climate change plays a
central role before the parliamentary elections on Saturday. Richard Flanagan doesn't care about
freedom in the fight against coal and climate change. "If I have to, I'll go to jail too," the
Australian bestselling author and winner of the Man Booker Prize angrily shouts into the
microphone. 5000 people in front of the parliament building in Canberra enthusiastically agree
with him. They are calling on the government to stop plans to build one of the largest coal mines
in the world. Otherwise they threaten blockages on roads, railway lines, loading ports - which
could then lead to prison. Fossil fuels are the main cause of global climate change; Flanagan says
in an interview. That is why the further mining of the "climate killer" coal in Australia must be
prevented: "It's about our survival."

Common signs of climate change

The author Flanagan is not alone in his fear of the future. Climate change is the key issue in
Saturday's Australian general election, a poll shows. Experts believe that the climate catastrophe
is already a reality in Australia, more than in any other industrialized country. The signs of this:
increasingly frequent, increasingly destructive cyclones, uncontrollable forest fires, years of
drought, dried up rivers, the coral bleaching on the Great Barrier Reef. "If we don't stop the
warming of the climate, and therefore water, immediately, today's children will see the reef die in
the course of their lives," says marine biologist Charlie Veron.
The conservative government under Prime Minister Scott Morrison sees it differently. She
considers such forecasts to be alarmist. Australia has a pragmatic climate policy, says former
advertising specialist Morrison. Right-wing MPs in his party even want to get out of the Paris
climate agreement. Morrison does not go that far because such a move could bury the ongoing
negotiations with the EU over a free trade agreement. With a 26 percent reduction in emissions
by 2030 compared to 2005 levels, Australia is setting only minimal targets. Experts not only
criticize the goal as insufficient, the proposed measures by the government cannot even achieve
it. Tax money is being invested in renewable energies, which today generate about 12 percent of
electricity. But Morrison absolutely wants to stick to coal as the most important source of
electricity.
Not least, he follows the demands of a small, extremely influential group of climate-skeptical
parliamentarians from his coalition. Critics like author Flanagan believe that these politicians are
supported by the coal industry and the media of the Murdoch empire. A member of the group,
Energy Minister Angus Taylor, said in an interview that Australia is only responsible for 1.6
percent of global emissions. The obligation to reduce them is therefore correspondingly minimal,
says Taylor. Coal will continue to be an important energy source for decades, worldwide.
Morrison himself also believes in coal. Two years ago, he marched into parliament with a lump
of coal in his hand. The then Chancellor of the Exchequer declared that there was nothing to fear
from the raw material from which Australia obtained 61 percent of its electricity and which
brought the country billions in export dollars.
 Climate Change 4

An Overall View of “Monthly Payment” spend per month

Earlier this year, the content of the Australian daily news was upside down. Not only with the
public service ABC News - on all channels. The headlines were not, as usual, reports from
politics, world affairs or business, but what else comes last: the weather. January 2019 was
Australia's hottest month since weather records were made, the average temperature in the
country was above 30 degrees for the first time. In the Murray-Darling river system, millions of
fish died in scalding water, and colonies of bats fell dead from the trees due to the heat. There
were blackouts, and the power grids collapsed in some places. In the cities, public life only
worked in slow motion. Mona and Betty Cox still couldn't keep a cool head in Adelaide.
But per capita, Australia is one of the largest emitters. Many young Australians know that. They
have been taking to the streets for months - even in the middle of the summer holidays in Sydney
or Melbourne, smoky with bush fires. They are calling for a radical cut in emissions and an end
to plans for new gigantic coal mines. But the Australian government politicians remain
unmoved. They insist that they will not do anything that could harm the Australian economy.
There is no mention that this year's bush fires could cost between $ 4.4 billion and $ 20 billion,
according to estimates by Moody’s Analytics and other experts.
 "We are in an unruly phase of Australian politics," says political scientist Will Grant from the
Australian National University in Canberra. Australia is one of the largest coal and gas exporters
in the world. The conservative government parties are closely intertwined with the powerful coal
and mining industry. Therefore, in the past fifteen years, any Australian government that has
taken serious action against climate change has failed. The current government has managed to
address the selfishness and materialism of many Australians and their fear of losing jobs in the
recent elections. In addition, some Australians, especially in the country, have a certain
traditional skepticism about science.

New heat records almost every day

Almost 50 degrees in the outback, 47 in Adelaide, Sydney and Melbourne groaned below 45
degrees. Decades of heat were sometimes beaten every day, only to be broken again straight
away. Meteorologist Agata Imielska from the Australian Weather Service was seen more often in
the evening news than Prime Minister Scott Morrison or Donald Trump. After nine of the ten
warmest years on record, she predicts that Australia will become an even hotter place in the
future. “The Australian continent has only warmed up a little more than one degree on average,
but the problem is longer and longer periods of extremely high temperatures. They heat up
Australia, dry wetlands, render soils sterile and endanger our water reserves. We expect more of
these heat waves and less cool months in the future.”

Between lack of water and monsoon-like rains

In the south and southeast of the country, drinking water reservoirs and drinking troughs ran dry,
in smaller towns water became so scarce that it had to be brought in by tanker truck. At the same
time, about 3,000 kilometers further north, no one knew where to put it.
 Climate Change 5

“Monthly Payment” vs “Concerned”

Australia is currently fighting hundreds of bush fires. People and animals have died or been
injured. There are many claims online about the outbreak of fires, one of which is very
prominent: that especially arson is the trigger for the fire, not climate change. NASA's satellite
photos show large clouds of smoke over the sea. Media around the world report the destruction
that bushfires in Australia have caused for weeks. On November 21, 2019, the World
Meteorological Organization reported "catastrophic conditions" with dozens of fires fueled by
high temperatures, wind, and drought. Since then, the reports of the fires have not stopped.
According to the Australian Meteorological Agency, 2019 was the warmest and driest since
records began in 1910. Rainfalls have been the lowest since 1900 since consistent records began.
Nonetheless, the claim that climate change has nothing to do with the bush fires spreads online.
We have reviewed some of the claims that are in circulation: Bush fires are mainly caused by
humans, not by climate change; Several websites have published articles in recent days claiming
that the main cause of the fires in Australia is arson. For example, Connective Events (shared
more than 500 times on Facebook) or Swiss Morning Post (shared more than 1,800 times on
Facebook).
The researches give figures on the allegedly arrested arsonists. We are talking about either more
than 180 (for example here) or about 200 people. This claim is not only circulating in Germany.
Several of the articles refer to New South Wales police figures. This released a press release on
January 6, stating that since November 8, 2019, it has investigated 183 people for 205 bushfire
cases, issued warnings or filed a criminal complaint. The police also break down the averages
more precisely:
 24 people were investigated for allegedly deliberately lit bush fires.
 A total fire ban was investigated against 53 people for alleged non-compliance.
 47 people were investigated for allegedly throwing away a lit cigarette or match.
The police do not write anything about the other cases. It is true that people are responsible for
some fires in the current season, but often out of negligence. The police do not write whether one
of the cases led to one of the current large fires. In only 24 cases can one speak of alleged arson,
in which fire was intentionally set. However, these numbers apply only to the state of New South
Wales, one in seven.
There are several triggers for forest fires
For an article (January 14), the fact checkers from AFP researched how many people were
investigated for arson in this bushfire season. No data is available for Victoria - if you add up all
the other cases that the AFP police stations reported, there are significantly fewer than 180
people. They are said to have caused fires "on purpose" or "recklessly". Some states have shared
data since September 2019, others for a shorter period.

Climate Change Affordability Measures

Financing climate protection from private sources is playing an increasingly important role in
Australia's climate protection efforts. At the 2015 Paris Climate Change Conference, the
Australian government pledged $ 1 billion ($ 760 million) in funding to combat climate change
 Climate Change 6

over a five-year period. But without clear definitions and central control, a patchwork of
initiatives has developed in Australia. The result is growing but fragmented private sector
climate finance.
FINANCIAL COMMITMENTS STILL NON-BINDING
According to a report submitted by the Australian government according to the UNFCCC, the
pledge of one billion Australian dollars is to "support countries in our region and provide
additional funds from the private sector" (DFAT 2016). While this is a reinforcement of efforts
to date, the amount is still well below what, according to most Australian studies, would be a
"fair share" of funding efforts. The illustration on the next page shows a comparison between
Australia's current commitment and estimates of Australia's “fair share” in international funding
for climate change measures in 2020.¹ It is a non-binding political promise and not funding
climate protection in general, private funding in particular is mentioned in Australia's NDC.

Climate Change Views

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MAKE YOUR CONTRACT WITH THE SUN
Solar parks generate climate-friendly electricity for well over 20 years. This is attractive for
lessors and investors alike. Municipalities benefit from the tax revenue and also from a positive
image through this sustainably clean and future-oriented form of electricity generation.
Renewable energies in Australia are on the rise
Australia has expanded its undisputed potential as a location for renewable energies. So far,
many German solar companies have benefited extremely well. By contrast, wind energy is
dominated by other European companies.
In the field of solar energy, Australia has already achieved grid parity thanks to the long hours of
sunshine at many locations. Wind energy is on the rise. Biomass has also increased significantly.
New legislation, in particular the 20-20 Target and the introduction of a price for carbon, are
trying to expand renewable energies and to achieve a standard comparable to Europe. This is
particularly noteworthy because Australia has enormous coal deposits. Listen to an interview
here before the introduction of the Emissions Trading Scheme, also known as the carbon tax.
For the current Australian government under Prime Minister Tony Abbott, however, renewable
energies are not in the foreground. Nevertheless, the market is proving to be lucrative for
German and European investors. Most recently, in January 2014, the Juwi group acquired a
majority stake in the Australian solar specialist Qi Power Limited.
 Climate Change 7

New government targets

In August 2009, the Senate adopted a new renewable energy target (RET). Accordingly, 20% of
the electricity consumed in Australia must come from renewable energies by 2020. This means a
quadrupling of the previous value to 45,000 gigawatt hours. The previous government's target in
2001, on the other hand, was only an increase to 9500 gigawatt hours by 2010. This target is
reviewed every two years and is heavily criticized by traditional Australian energy companies.
However, it is to be expected that the responsible minister will confirm the renewable energy
target at the end of 2012, which the commission of experts recommended. It can therefore be
expected that large projects in the field of renewable energies will now also be commissioned.
Electricity wholesalers are therefore motivated to enter into power purchase agreements, which
has rarely been the case in the past. Due to the lack of commercial feed-in tariffs for large
projects in Australia (see below), these are a necessary prerequisite for the completion of a
project.

References

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about climate change among rural residents in Australia. Journal of Rural Studies.
Bremer, J. and Linnenluecke, M.K., 2017. Determinants of the perceived importance of
organisational adaptation to climate change in the Australian energy industry. Australian
Journal of Management, 42(3), pp.502-521.
Goldberg, J., Marshall, N., Birtles, A., Case, P., Bohensky, E., Curnock, M., Gooch, M., Parry-
Husbands, H., Pert, P., Tobin, R. and Villani, C., 2016. Climate change, the Great Barrier
Reef and the response of Australians.
Hobbs, T.J., Neumann, C.R., Meyer, W.S., Moon, T. and Bryan, B.A., 2016. Models of
reforestation productivity and carbon sequestration for land use and climate change
adaptation planning in South Australia. Journal of environmental management, 181,
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Hughes, N. and Lawson, K., 2017. Climate adjusted productivity on Australian cropping farms.
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Schoepf, V., 2017. Marine heatwave causes unprecedented regional mass bleaching of
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McCright, A.M., Dunlap, R.E. and Marquart-Pyatt, S.T., 2016. Political ideology and views
about climate change in the European Union. Environmental Politics, 25(2), pp.338-358.
 Climate Change 8

Morioka, K., McGann, M., Mackay, S. and Mackey, B., 2019. Applying Information for Climate
Change Adaptation Planning and Decision Making in the Pacific: Situation Analysis.
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