Angus Taylor won't say what PM's 'negative globalism' comments mean for climate talks

https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2019/oct/08/angus-taylor-wont-say-what-pms-negative-globalism-comments-mean-for-climate-talks

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The energy minister, Angus Taylor, has ducked questions about what “negative globalism” means in the context of Australia’s participation in international climate negotiations, and has sidestepped questions about Australia’s emissions reduction strategy for 2050.

Asked to explain Scott Morrison’s recent criticism at the Lowy Institute of what he termed “unaccountable internationalist bureaucracy” and “negative globalism” – and interpret what the prime minister’s observations meant for Australia’s participation in United Nations-led climate discussions – Taylor hedged.

“I am focused on achieving outcomes here in Australia,” the energy minister told reporters in Canberra. “International obligations matter, but the crucial thing for us as a government is to focus on the outcomes here in Australia.”

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Taylor also dead batted when asked to explain what Australia’s 2050 emissions reduction strategy was. At the recent Pacific Islands Forum, Australia signed a communique saying that all parties to the Paris agreement would “formulate and communicate mid-century long-term low greenhouse gas emissions development strategies by 2020”.

“This may include commitments and strategies to achieve net zero carbon by 2050,” the communique said. Australia signed after conflict with Pacific nations over the lack of ambition on climate policies and an argument over coal.

But Taylor said the government was focused currently on the Paris commitments, not the next cycle, which is emissions reduction commitments to 2050. “Our immediate focus is on the 2030 Paris obligation. Our focus right now is on achieving the 2030 targets.

“We have a strong plan, strong targets, fully costed, and that’s a stark contrast to what Labor took to the last election,” Taylor said.

The minister was asked several times during Tuesday’s press conference to respond to commentary from the former prime minister Malcolm Turnbull, who told The Australian the Liberal party’s failure to face up to the task of emissions reduction “in any sort of systematic way” meant Australian consumers were paying more for electricity, and pollution was continuing to rise.

Turnbull attempted to legislate the national energy guarantee (Neg) during his prime ministership, but the policy was abandoned as conservatives – including Taylor – launched the push against his leadership that resulted in Scott Morrison taking the top job last August.

Taylor avoided slapping back at Turnbull directly, but he argued the government was achieving progress on lowering power prices. “The ACCC have told us standing offers have come down. We are seeing good progress on reductions. We are seeing prices coming down.”

He also claimed the picture for emissions reduction was positive. “The outcomes of the national energy guarantee will be achieved. We will achieve our emissions target nine years ahead of time and the retailer reliability obligation is in place. That is good news for Australian consumers.”

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The minister contended on Tuesday it didn’t matter that the Neg was a casualty of in-fighting in the Liberal party because the outcomes would be delivered anyway, even though the arguments from conservatives at the time was the Neg shouldn’t be implemented because it was bad policy and, to quote Tony Abbott, “merchant bankers’ gobbledigook”.

“Outcomes are what matters,” Taylor said on Tuesday. “Mechanisms are one thing but outcomes are everything. We are achieving the outcomes [Turnbull] is talking about.”

Taylor said the Coalition had “laid out to the last tonne how we will achieve our 2030 obligations. We have strong targets, we have a clear plan to get there and it is all fully costed.”

Emissions have risen every year in Australia since the then Abbott government repealed the carbon price legislated by the Gillard government. Carbon dioxide emissions from electricity generation continue to decrease – reflecting the falling cost of solar and wind energy, and the closure of ageing coal power plants – but this is being more than cancelled out by the growth in emissions from the liquefied natural gas (LNG) export industry, and increases in pollution from transport.

The Morrison government has published a roadmap of how it intends to reduce emissions to comply with the Paris commitment. But according to its projections, the government will count a 367 megatonne abatement from carryover credits (an accounting system that allows countries to count carbon credits from exceeding their targets under the soon-to-be-obsolete Kyoto protocol periods against their Paris commitment for 2030) to help meet the 2030 target.

The government is also counting just under 100Mt of abatement from “technology solutions” – which aren’t specified in the roadmap – and emissions reduction from an electric vehicle strategy that it has not yet unveiled.

Taylor said the government was making progress on plans to underwrite new power generation, but he said his immediate priority was ensuring there was sufficient dispatchable power in the system to keep the lights on and prices down.