Sixteen years ago, on this day, August 31st, 2010,
AUSTRALIA is failing to meet its international responsibilities by delaying the introduction of an emissions trading scheme, Mike Rann said yesterday.
After staying clear of ETS issues in the federal election campaign, the South Australian Premier told an Adelaide business lunch an ETS was urgently needed to spur international action on climate change.
“Only an emissions trading system allows the country to commit to a specific emissions performance and be assured of achieving it,” he said.
Akerman, P. 2010. ETS delay a national failure: Rann. The Australian, 1 September.
http://www.theaustralian.com.au/national-affairs/ets-delay-a-national-failure-rann/news-story/db709200b06792098c68b94e479eea30
The amount of carbon dioxide in the air was 390ppm. 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, as per a couple of days ago, the first attempts to get a price on carbon were for a tax. After these were defeated, especially in 1995, attention had turned to an emissions trading scheme. In August 2003 the second attempt to get a trading scheme going under the Howard government was defeated.
The specific context was that Howard’s entire cabinet was united in the need for one. Howard blocked it for a month and came back, and then said “no”, and the spineless cretins all went along with it. Here we see South Australian Premier Mike Rann, who by this time had been taking a keen interest in renewables and the potential for South Australia to generate a lot of electricity from wind entering the fray; Rann had become premier of South Australia shortly before this.
What I think we can learn from this is that the opportunities, the technologies, the policies were all there, and if they had been implemented, they would not have stopped climate change. They would have slowed down the staggering increase in our emissions. They would have slowly, perhaps, bent the concentration curve down a bit, which might have bought us more time. These catastrophes that we’re facing might have been delayed by as much as I don’t know a decade?
What happened next In 2006 Howard had to do a U-turn in the face of public and political pressure. It did not save him. Labor’s Kevin Rudd then managed to fuck up the emissions trading scheme legislation and was replaced by Julia Gillard, about whom you can say many things, but she was at least competent within her framework. You cannot say that of Rudd.
On this topic, you might like these other posts on All Our Yesterdays
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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:
August 31, 1998 – Green dollar growing on trees?
August 31, 1992 – “Community Energy Audit” in Canberra
August 31, 2005 – “Stop Climate Chaos” launched
August 31, 2006 – activists try to “Reclaim Power”
August 31, 2011 – anti-carbon tax protesters call Anthony Albanese a “maggot”