Thirty years ago, on this day, July 11st, 1996,
The Australian Democrats have publicly undermined the Howard Government’s strategy at the historic climate change summit in Geneva by urging the meeting’s president to ignore whatever arguments Australia’s delegation puts forward.
This is an extraordinary break with diplomatic convention, under which domestic political disputes are left behind at international meetings.
The Democrats’ leader, Senator Kernot, and deputy leader, Senator Meg Lees, last night faxed a three-page letter to the summit president, Mr Chen Chimutengwende, asking him not to be “fooled by the Government’s slick-talking attempt to avoid its responsibilities to all other governments concerned with the impact of climate change”.
Gilchrist, G. (1996) Kernot Breaks Ranks On Climate Sydney Morning Herald, July 16 page 2
And
On July 15, 1996, at an international negotiating conference in Geneva, Patrick Michaels released an article, title “New Data Cast Doubt on Human Fingerprint,” that criticised the Nature article [of Santer et al]
Gelbspan, R. (1998) Page 22.
And
On July 15, 1996, at an international negotiating conference in Geneva, Patrick Michaels released an article, title “New Data Cast Doubt on Human Fingerprint,” that criticised the Nature article [of Santer et al]
Gelbspan, R. (1998) Page 22
The amount of carbon dioxide in the air was 362ppm. 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 was that after an initial bout of helpfulness/proactive behaviour (1988-1989), the Australian government had moved towards petulance on the path to obstruction under late-Hawke and Keating (Prime Ministers).
The specific context was in March 1996 Liberal John Howard had become Prime Minister. He was adamantly opposed to all climate action. The 2nd COP would be his first big test. On his lights, he ‘passed it’. For the planet? Not so much.
What I think we can learn from this is that it is not too late to get John Howard to the Hague for crimes against humanity.
What happened next – the next COP, Kyoto, would end in “success”. Many more “successes” like that followed. The carbon dioxide kept accumulating.
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On this topic, you might like these other posts on All Our Yesterdays
June 3, 1996 – Business Council of Australia versus even the idea of a carbon tax
July 8, 1996 – National Greenhouse Advisory Panel tells the truth…
July 12, 1996 – medics slam energy companies for outright denial and obstruction
July 14, 1996 – Australian Medical Association and Greenpeace
July 18, 1996 – Geneva Ministerial Declaration noted but not adopted
References
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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.
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Also on this day:
July 15, 1968 – first(?) UK government attention to the possibility of climate change
July 15, 1972 – Soviet Weekly on how man affects the weather…
July 15, 1977 – “Heavy Use of Coal May Bring Adverse Shift in Climate”
July 15, 1988 – “Racing on Capitol Hill for Title of “Mr Greenhouse”
July 15, 1991 – RIP Roger Revelle
July 15, 1994 – ALP and BCA in good cop bad cop routine
July 15, 2005 – The “Stern Review” into #climate is announced…