Why is Australia so slow to act on climate change?
A provocative question from an Australian listener reveals a tale of two countries – of coal mines and solar farms
Australia is one of the world's biggest per-capita greenhouse gas emitters, and a Climate Question listener wants to know why the world isn't demanding her country do more.
Jodie lives in tropical Queensland, which she says is 'paradise', but it's also a place affected by bushfires, drought, and cyclones.
Prime Minister Scott Morrison says 'Australia can always be relied upon' to deliver action on climate change, but critics at home and abroad point to a record of over-promising and under-delivering.
Observers also blame the country's powerful and profitable fossil fuel industries as a reason why the Australian government has been slow to make progress.
But is it time, as listener Jodie asks, to give her country a 'a kick up the bum'?
Contributors:
Dr Niklas Hohne, The New Climate Institute, Cologne
Greg Bourne, The Climate Council Australia
Presenters - Neal Razzell and Graihagh Jackson
Reporter - Issy Phillips, FBi Radio, Sydney
Producer – Jordan Dunbar
Editor – Emma Rippon
Last on
Broadcasts
- Mon 28 Jun 2021 01:32GMT91Èȱ¬ World Service
- Mon 28 Jun 2021 08:06GMT91Èȱ¬ World Service
- Mon 28 Jun 2021 12:32GMT91Èȱ¬ World Service East and Southern Africa, South Asia, West and Central Africa & East Asia only
- Mon 28 Jun 2021 19:06GMT91Èȱ¬ World Service except East and Southern Africa & West and Central Africa
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The Climate Question
Why we find it so hard to save our own planet, and how we might change that.