Twenty two years ago, on this day, June 18th, 2004.
Environmentalists today urged the government to do more to develop renewable energy technologies, amid news that Australia had been branded the world’s worst greenhouse gas polluter.
Green groups and industry associations held a crisis meeting in Canberra to develop an urgent action plan for the environment ahead of the federal election.
AAP, 2004. Australia branded worst greenhouse polluter. Sydney Morning Herald, 18 June.
http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2004/06/18/1087245104076.html
The amount of carbon dioxide in the air was 377ppm. As of 2026, when this post was published, it is 430ppm. This matters because the more carbon dioxide in the air, the more heat gets trapped. The more heat, the more extreme weather events. You can make it more complicated than that if you want, but really, it’s not. Fwiw, I have a tattoo of the Keeling Curve on my left forearm.
The broader context for this was that from the 1950s Australia had had some renewables industries around solar, hot water heating and some very basic wind turbines, and that with appropriate support and funding that could have exploded, but of course, it would then have been a competitor to the coal lobby and to big centralised outfits like ETSA and so on.
And so the CSIRO funding got cut. (See Mark Diesendorf on this).
In 1994-95 there had been a proposal for a carbon tax at a federal level in Australia, and there would have been hypothecated funding available for renewable energy. The carbon tax was defeated, and the money therefore never arrived. And in 1997, ahead of the Kyoto conference, Prime Minister John Howard had had to make empty promises about a mandatory renewable energy target for Australia. He had, then, having got what he wanted at Kyoto, deliberately slow-walked this and muddied the waters until it all became largely futile. You can read about it in Clive Hamilton’s Running from the Storm.
The specific context was that in 2003 Howard had gathered his mates together, the Low Emissions Technologies Advisory Group and demanded their help in squashing renewables, though this didn’t emerge until late 2004. Meanwhile, in the lead up to the 2004 energy white paper, which was a gift to the fossil fuel lobby, we see this sort of lobbying trying to get support for renewables.
What I think we can learn is this: the good guys lose. Everybody knows the war is over and that John Howard is a fucking criminal. That’s I mean, that’s it, really, that’s the post.
What happened next: emissions kept climbing.
On this topic, you might like these other posts on All Our Yesterdays
References
You can see the chronological list of All Our Yesterdays “on this day” posts here.
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.
If you want to get involved, let me know.
If you want to invite me on your podcast, that would boost my ego and probably improve the currently pitiful hit-rate on this site (the two are not-unrelated).
Also on this day:
June 18, 1972 – Patrick White becomes a reluctant greenie activist
June 18, 1976- UK Meteorological Office explains things to Cabinet Office
June 18, 1984- OECD holds conference on “environment and economics”
June 18, 2013 – Feeble ’Wind Fraud’ rally in Canberra
June 18, 2015 – Power station petition – All Our Yesterdays
June 18, 2008 – Carbon Capture and Storage is going to save Australia. Oh yes. – All Our Yesterdays