Page 566 - Week 02 - Wednesday, 22 February 2012
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Exposure draft.
Explanatory statement to the exposure draft.
Fact sheet.
I seek leave to make a statement in relation to the papers.
Leave granted.
MS LE COUTEUR: Today I present the Assembly with a bill to ensure that planning decisions and the planning approvals process are consistent with the legislated greenhouse gas reduction targets in the Climate Change and Greenhouse Gas Reduction Act 2010. The ACT Greens are calling for public submissions on this exposure draft of the Planning and Development (Greenhouse Gas Reduction Targets) Amendment Bill 2012 by, I believe, 20 April.
To achieve this the bill amends the objects of the act, inserts new requirements for the statement of strategic directions and a range of other development plans as well as inserting a number of new requirements within existing Planning and Land Authority functions. The bill creates new obligations on the Planning and Land Authority and ensures that planning decisions are made recognising both the impacts of climate change and our obligation to respond and achieve the legislated greenhouse gas reduction targets in the Climate Change and Greenhouse Gas Reduction Act 2010.
Why are we putting this forward today? We are putting it forward because in 2010 the ACT Legislative Assembly passed legislation committing the ACT to reducing greenhouse gas emissions by 40 per cent less than 1990 figures by 2020. This figure was based on what scientists are telling us is necessary if we are to limit global warming to two degrees. We now know that if we continue with business as usual, the medium predictions forecast minimum warming of at least 2.3 degrees and possibly up to six degrees by the end of the century. It is therefore important that we treat our climate reduction targets as minimum targets, not aspirational targets.
Our atmosphere today contains greenhouse gases at a concentration higher than that of the past 55 million years. Geological records tell us that this level of climate change spells disaster. Far from climate change being a concern of the future, the world is already witnessing this disaster unfold. The 1990s were the warmest decade since the beginning of instrumental records. In the United States 2011 was one of the most costly years on record for extreme weather events. In Asia people are being forced to adapt to growing water shortages and the spread of vector-borne diseases. In the Horn of Africa severe drought is exacerbating already severe food shortages. In Europe the recent historically and bitterly cold winters have claimed the lives of hundreds. In Australia bushfires and flooding are increasing in frequency and intensity. In the poles glacial run-off is increasing and spring discharge is occurring earlier each year. Globally plants and animals are being forced to migrate to higher altitudes and breed ever earlier in the annual cycle.
This is a glimpse of what could come—what will come, in fact—if we fail to act now. By the end of this century, our world could be six degrees warmer. In the absence of
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