Thirty one years ago, on this day, March 21st, 1995, the Fin reports,
FEDERAL Cabinet is today expected to endorse Australia taking a tough stand – at a ministerial meeting on climate change in Berlin next week – against new measures to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Australia’s stance against the creation of a new protocol on greenhouse gas reduction was given a strong boost by the failure of a last-minute meeting of 26 countries held in Bonn 10 days ago to reach consensus on the issue.
Dwyer, M. 1995. Australia takes strong line against greenhouse rules. The Australian Financial Review, 21 March.
The amount of carbon dioxide in the air was roughly 361ppm. As of 2026 it is 428ppm, but check here for daily measures.
The broader context was that six years previously, Australia had made all the right noises at an international conference in The Hague, but six years and a couple of 100 extra miles make all the difference.
What actually happened?
The specific context was that by 1995 the resources lobby had won all the battles on climate policy, and Australia was the Labour Party was going to fight tooth and nail against any reduction commitments.
What I think we can learn from this is that a week is a long time in politics and six years is an eternity.
What happened next. Well, it’s interesting because John Faulkner must have been sent to the Berlin COP with a set of instructions, but ultimately, for whatever reason, he agreed to the Berlin mandate. It would be fascinating to see the cables back and forth between the Australian embassy and Keating’s government and to see what Keating et al said to Faulkner when he returned.
What do you think? Does this pass the ‘so what?’ threshold? Have I got facts wrong? Interpretation wrong? Please do comment on this post, unless you are a denialist, obvs.
References
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Also on this day:
March 21, 1768 – Joseph Fourier born
March 21, 1980 – chair of Statoil board acknowledges the “social cost” of the “CO2 problem”
March 21, 1994 – Yes to UNFCCC, yes to more coal-fired plants. Obviously. #auspol
March 21, 1994 – Singleton Council approves Redbank power station