The Non-climate Climate Election

City Limits

This week is energy week! Zeb and Kevin speak with climate change activist David Spratt about a lack of climate solutions worldwide since his co-authored publication Climate Code Red: the case for emergency action,14 years ago. They discuss:- the upcoming "non-climate climate election"; the irony of how climate issues have dominated federal leadership changes for the past several years and yet neither major party wants to talk climate policy.- recent carbon offset whistleblower Professor Andrew Macintosh, former chair of the Emissions Reduction Assurance Committee, to denounce the carbon market, with a report that 70~80% of carbon credits are "markedly low in integrity". - how the carbon market's degeneration into this rort of nonviable schemes (such as carbon capture and storage) trickles down to the collective conscience of consumers, whilst allowing companies to emit more in the name of money- how these corporations "should be paid to clean up the mess, but right now they're being paid to make the mess", with the last financial year showing fossil fuel subsidies equaling $19,600 each minute. Not only does this encourage more pollution, but also is a reflection of how much money the goverment has to spend.- the false panacea of the electric car with precious metal extraction required for batteries not quite the ethical or environmental solution under a system based on eternal economic growth- lack of forward thinking policy for Victorian Government approved developments when it comes to sea-level projections and more...David stresses that climate change is not a technological problem, but a problem of political will, since we are stuck with two major political parties with deep connections to the fossil fuel industry.