Thirty four years ago, on this day, January 16th, 1992 the draft greenhouse strategy of the Australian Capital Territory government was launched.
Lamberton, 1992 Canberra Times
The amount of carbon dioxide in the air was roughly 356.5ppm. As of 2025 it is 425ppm, but check here for daily measures.
The context was that various state governments had promised that they would create and enact greenhouse strategies. The Australian Capital Territory, (not a state), was among them, It had in fact, agreed to The Toronto target early on. And so this launch, is in the months leading up to the Rio Earth Summit in June,, the kind of thing that happens.
What I think we can learn from this is that the wheels of bureaucracy necessarily grind slowly, but they do grind, if not scuppered by new political dispensations.
What happened next
There has been fairly good progress (yes, yes, I know, not consumption based, no big industry blah blah).
Also on this day
January 16, 1919 – banning things that people like turns out not to work
January 16, 1995: There’s power in a (corporate) union #auspol
January 16, 2003 – Chicago Climate Exchange names founding members