Author Archives: Ian Dunlop and David Spratt
Net-zero emissions by 2050: leadership or climate colonialism? (Canberra Times Nov 2, 2020)
How fast does Australia need to reduce greenhouse emissions to play its fair part in responding to the global climate emergency?
What must climate and energy policy really achieve?
The Australian Government is dangerously out-of-touch as climate change accelerates and a cascade of tipping points risks unstoppable global warming.
LobbyLand. Fossil Fuel Lobbyists: Modus Operandi, Impact, Solutions
In Australia, denial mounts. The recent “Gas-Led Recovery” and “Technological Roadmap” announcements of the Morrison government confirm the continued influence of the fossil fuel industry and its lobbyists.
The Coal Curse – A Review
Governments are abrogating their first responsibility, which is to safeguard the people and their future well-being. The first part of historian Judith Brett’s Quarterly Essay, The Coal Curse – Resources, Climate and Australia’s Future, is a masterly dissection of Australian … Continue reading
The really big and tough issue is the environment says Ken Henry
In last weekend’s Sydney Morning Herald, Jessica Irvine quizzed Ken Henry on his preferences for tax reform. Ken emphasised the critical importance of a clear, settled allocation of roles between the Commonwealth and the States.
IAN DUNLOP. Fatal Calculations: How Economics has Underestimated Climate Damage and Encouraged Inaction
A rational response from Australia’s leaders to the unprecedented and disastrous 2019-20 megafires would have recognised, first, that they are another warning— and the strongest yet — that the catastrophic impacts of human-induced climate change are here now as lives … Continue reading
IAN DUNLOP. Emergency action on climate change is imperative
The first Australian National Climate Emergency Summit was in Melbourne Town Hall, 14-15 February 2020 – there will be many more.
IAN DUNLOP. Have we a federal government fit for purpose or the greatest danger to our national security?
The current bushfires are unprecedented in terms of their extent, intensity, fire season length, economic and social impact. They are, without doubt, intensified by human-induced climate change.
IAN DUNLOP.-The real implications of climate emergency action
The drought and bushfires ravaging large parts of Australia are a foretaste of the climate emergency which, after three decades of inaction by our political and corporate leaders, is locked-in for years to come.
IAN DUNLOP. A call to the Australia people – demand serious action on climate change before it is too late. PART 2. GOVERNANCE
How good is Australia’s climate leadership? In short, appalling, as the recent disputes on the linkage between climate change, drought, water availability and bushfires confirm only too well.
IAN DUNLOP. A call to the Australia people – demand serious action on climate change before it is too late. PART 1. CONTEXT
The Real Climate Challenge After three decades of inaction, human-induced climate change is the greatest threat, and opportunity, facing this country, far outweighing the issues dominating our domestic political discourse, such as the US/China impasse, a faltering economy and religious … Continue reading
IAN DUNLOP. Time for the Coal Industry to Face Reality
The first priority of any government is the security of its people. The greatest threat to that security today is human-induced climate change. Because of the refusal of political and corporate leaders over the last two decades to take climate … Continue reading
IAN DUNLOP, DAVID SPRATT. Australia’s climate stance is inflicting criminal damage on humanity (The Guardian)
The government opts for conflict rather than change, while suppressing details on the implications of its climate inaction
IAN DUNLOP. Parliament must treat Climate Change as an Emergency
A year ago, discussion of climate change as an existential threat, and the corresponding need for emergency action, was anathema to those leading debate on climate policy in the political, corporate and NGO incumbencies globally. Incremental change remained the order … Continue reading
IAN DUNLOP. Modelling Climate Change Minutiae
The hysteria surrounding Brian Fisher’s economic modelling of Coalition and ALP climate policies typifies the predatory delay which has bedevilled the development of any sensible response to our climate and energy dilemma since Australia signed the Kyoto Protocol in 1997, … Continue reading
IAN DUNLOP. Stopping Adani is a National Necessity, Economically, Financially and for our Survival.
Central banks, regulators and insurers are starting to acknowledge that the risks of human-induced climate change will have far greater economic and financial consequences than the 2008 Global Financial Crisis. Likewise, global investors and corporations are finally accepting that climate … Continue reading
IAN DUNLOP, DAVID SPRATT. Is the Australian Public Service fit-for-purpose to handle existential climate risk?
The first duty of a government is to “protect the people”, their safety and well-being. Nowhere is this duty more important than in addressing climate change, which now constitutes a near-term existential threat to human civilisation. It is an open, … Continue reading
IAN DUNLOP. Climate Policy: Predatory delay destroys prosperity, threatens survival.
As the debacle of Australian climate and energy policy unfolded over the last three decades, the continuing bleat from peak industry bodies, such as the BCA, MCA and APPEA, has been the need for policy certainty and consistency. Notwithstanding the fact … Continue reading
IAN DUNLOP. The Elephant in the Election Room. The Immediate Existential Threat of Climate Change.(SMH 14.2.2019)
Human-induced climate change is happening faster than officially acknowledged. Extreme events intensify, particularly in Australia, Asia and the Pacific. Victoria and Tasmania are ablaze again. Queensland needs a decade to recover from recent floods. Much of SE Australia has become … Continue reading
IAN DUNLOP. Keeping Australians Safe and Secure
Defence Minister Christopher Pyne recently gave us the benefit of his wisdom on the parlous state of Australian politics, doubting that it is any longer capable of acting for the long-term good of the nation. Prime Minister Morrison confirmed the … Continue reading
IAN DUNLOP. The Best of 2018: A Parliament Without Trust or Legitimacy Must Go
The insults hurled by David Leyonhjelm at Sarah Hanson-Young recently put parliamentary discourse in the gutter. Leyonhjelm was roundly condemned, but not by our leaders. A limp slap across the knuckles from Turnbull and Shorten, then on to more pressing … Continue reading
IAN DUNLOP. The Best of 2018: The Monash Forum – of Coal & Horses.
Sir John Monash was a visionary engineer, military leader and much more, who succeeded in spite of the prejudices of the conservative Melbourne establishment (read: The Coalition right wing), to become, in Field Marshal Bernard Montgomery’s view, “the best general … Continue reading
DAVID SPRATT & IAN DUNLOP. In the climate end-game, humanity has a big decision to make
Humanity has a big decision to make very soon about its future on warming planet, but the Federal Coalition is still in denial that human-induced climate change even exists, let alone that the climate end-game is upon us.
IAN DUNLOP. A Parliament Without Trust or Legitimacy Must Go
The insults hurled by David Leyonhjelm at Sarah Hanson-Young recently put parliamentary discourse in the gutter. Leyonhjelm was roundly condemned, but not by our leaders. A limp slap across the knuckles from Turnbull and Shorten, then on to more pressing … Continue reading
IAN DUNLOP. Climate Risk – Minerals Council of Australia Directors Breach Duties of Care and Due Diligence
After 30 years of inaction, the focus on climate risk is accelerating as the physical impact of climate change worsens and the transition risks to a low-carbon world intensify. Despite effusive official rhetoric, nothing has been done to seriously address … Continue reading
IAN DUNLOP. Climate Change: The fiduciary responsibility of politicians & bureaucrats. Part 2 of 2.
“Fiduciary: a person to whom power is entrusted for the benefit of another” “Power is reposed in members of Parliament by the public for exercise in the interests of the public and not primarily for the interests of members or … Continue reading
IAN DUNLOP. Climate Change: The fiduciary responsibility of politicians & bureaucrats. Part 1.
“Fiduciary: a person to whom power is entrusted for the benefit of another” “Power is reposed in members of Parliament by the public for exercise in the interests of the public and not primarily for the interests of members or … Continue reading
IAN DUNLOP. If Business Leaders Want To Regain Our Trust, They Must Act On Climate Risk.
Business leaders seem astonished that community trust in the activities is at an all-time low, trending towards the bottom of the barrel inhabited by politicians. To the corporate leader dedicated to the capitalist, market economy success story of the last … Continue reading
IAN DUNLOP. Facing “Disaster Alley”, Australia shirks responsibility- A REPOST from June 27 2017
The first responsibility of a government is to safeguard the people and their future wellbeing. The ability to do so is increasingly threatened by human-induced climate change, the accelerating impacts of which are driving political instability and conflict globally. Climate … Continue reading
IAN DUNLOP. Climate & Energy – Appeasement Does Not Work
The current chaos around climate and energy policy brings to mind George Santayana’s caution that: “Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it”. That is exactly what we are witnessing, albeit with far more profound implications even … Continue reading