Climate Justice Policy Asks

Bolder Climate Solutions

God made a world that was good, very good. A place of belonging and safety for all. An interwoven ecosystem that is beautifully regulated, balanced and protected. 

Unfortunately, humans have disrupted the Earth’s system and have been the main driver of climate change, primarily due to the burning of fossil fuels like coal, oil, and gas. The consequences of climate change now include: intense droughts, water scarcity, severe fires, rising sea levels, flooding, ocean acidification, melting polar ice, catastrophic storms, and declining biodiversity.¹ 

Australia is experiencing the impacts of a rapidly warming world. Storms, fires, floods, and other weather disasters are intensifying, and changes in rain patterns are putting pressure on food production. Climate change is already having a significant impact on the cost of living – electricity, gas, and grocery bills are rising for all Australians. 

Climate change was a major factor in the Black Summer bushfires of 2020, and the Lismore floods of 2022. Temperatures in and around the Great Barrier Reef over the past decade are the highest recorded in 400 years. Extreme heat has caused five mass bleaching events in the past 9 years alone.²

The Australian Medical Association has recognised Climate Change as a health emergency, noting that the significant health impacts of climate change are already evident and can be expected to increase. These include illnesses and deaths from heat stress and other extreme weather; increase in vector-borne diseases like Dengue Fever; decline in mental health (for example anxiety in young people over what their future looks like), and threats to food security.³ 

We also know that the impacts of climate change are not felt equally. Those with the least resources, including our First Nations Peoples and Pacific Islander neighbours, are being impacted harder and faster.   

First Nations Peoples

• Ancestral homes and sacred sites are under threat due to sea level rise and storm fronts 
• Many communities lack the quality of housing and infrastructure needed to adapt to ever-increasing temperatures and climate variability. 
• Impacts of climate change threaten to turn many Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples and communities - the world’s oldest, living, continuing cultures - into internally displaced climate refugees. 

Pacific Islander Neighbours

• Possibility of displacement also remains an existential threat  
• Sea levels are rising and powerful and unpredictable weather events such as severe flooding and cyclones are destroying the livelihoods of vulnerable communities
• Extended droughts are making staple crops harder to grow, increasing the cost of food and living. 

And it is our children and future generations that will bear the brunt. 

Children growing up today, are already experiencing the impacts of climate change

• They are more likely to be physically or psychologically harmed in a sudden onset of natural hazard than adults because their organs, muscles, and brains are less developed and therefore less resilient to impacts.⁴
• Children are more likely to experience severe symptoms from vector-borne diseases and respiratory illnesses such as asthma, which can be linked to air pollution, including from greenhouse gas emissions.⁵
• A 2021 UNICEF survey found that 84% of young Australians included were extremely, very, or moderately worried about climate change, with almost half of those surveyed feeling distressed to the extent that it was affecting their daily functioning.⁶

A child born in Australia in 2023 will experience four times as many heatwaves, three times as many droughts, and 1.5 times as many bushfires and river floods than a child born in Australia in 1960.⁷

But we can change this. With bold and urgent action, we can be part of mitigating the worst impacts of climate change and begin stabilising the climate now. We can also invest in ensuring our society adapts to those impacts that are now locked in, in order to protect our children and future generations. With a modern industrial and manufacturing base that is fit for the 21st century, we can also set up our kids to thrive with plenty of good, ongoing jobs in renewable energy and clean industries.

As a movement of individuals and churches, we are committed to personally reducing our ecological footprints. Throughout September and October 2024, members of the Common Grace took part in the Climate Challenge, committing to make changes related to the way we eat, shop and travel, and inviting our local communities to join us in pursuing more sustainable lifestyles.

We are grateful for the rapid increase in climate action that we have seen since 2022. We particularly welcome the safeguard mechanism and renewable energy targets. In order to protect our future, however, the rate of change must accelerate. 

We are calling on the Government to take urgent action on climate change, by

1. Committing to no new investments in coal, gas, and oil exploration and development.

• Burning coal, oil and gas emits heat-trapping pollution into the atmosphere forming a thicker blanket around the Earth and causing our planet to overheat
• Fossil Fuels account for more than 75% of global greenhouse gases emissions and nearly 90% of all carbon dioxide emissions – the main pollutant driving climate change 
• The Global Carbon Project, an international consortium of scientists, found that climate pollution from fossil fuels reached a record high level in 2023

Every new coal, oil or gas development endangers us all. 

Yet, the government continues to endorse the expansion of the fossil fuel industry by supporting new carbon-intensive offshore gas field developments, permitting fracking, approving new coal mines, and creating regulations for CO2 sequestration beyond its borders, in contradiction with its stated climate goals.⁸

The government’s support for massive new fossil gas projects, such as the Woodside Scarborough-Pluto field in Western Australia, the Santos-led Barossa gas fields or the Beetaloo shale gas project stands in stark contrast to the 2030 emissions reduction target. According to the International Energy Agency, new fossil fuel projects puts even the net zero emissions by 2050 goal at risk.⁹

2. Investing in bold climate solutions that support a rapid shift to renewable energy.

We support the Renew Australia for All Campaign, specifically the Energy Bill Savings Plan, to repower Australian homes and communities with rooftop solar, batteries, electric appliances, and thermal improvements.

Australia is already shifting to clean energy. More than 3 million Australians have already taken back control of their bills by using rooftop solar and other energy upgrades. But progress has been slow.

There are already action plans that have been developed. The Climate Council has provided a clear pathway to cut Australia’s climate pollution 75% by 2030 in their report Seize the Decade.

Common Grace is a proud partner of the Renew Australia for All movement. 

We support their Energy Bill Savings Plan – a plan to harness the abundant sun and wind to power homes with affordable, clean, energy.

The plan has three steps:

You can download the full Energy Bill Savings Plan here

3. Adopting a clear, science-based, risk management approach to achieve Australia’s obligations under the Paris Agreement – including a commitment to 75% emissions reduction by 2030, as a critical step towards reaching net zero emissions by 2035.

Australia’s obligations under the Paris Agreement – limit warming well below 2 degrees Celsius and pursue efforts to limit it to 1.5 degrees Celsius. 

The Paris Agreement requires each party to prepare, communicate and maintain successive nationally determined contributions (NDCs) that it intends to achieve. They embody efforts by each country to reduce national emissions and adapt to the impacts of climate change. 

Australia’s current NDC includes 3 emissions reduction targets:

• A commitment to reduce greenhouse gas emissions to 43% below 2005 levels by 2030, implemented as a single-year point target.
• A multi-year emissions budget for the period 2021 to 2030, with an indicative value of 4381 million tonnes CO2-e, corresponding to the 43% target.
• Achieving net zero emissions by 2050.

Australia is due to set our next NDC in 2025. 

Our ask: a 75% Emissions Reduction Target by 2030, net-zero by 2035. 

We recognise that this is an exceptionally ambitious goal. But anything less than this will not be enough to stave off catastrophic climate consequences. 

Modelling done by the Climate Council in 2023 demonstrates that this is possible. And it is necessary. 

• Australia is on track to reduce national emissions by 42% by 2030. This has improved under the current Government by about 12%. We are making progress. But we are moving too slowly.¹⁰
• Net zero emissions by 2035 is needed if we are going to hold global warming at its safest levels now possible.¹¹
  • This balances the maximum rate of emissions reductions that the Climate Council believes is possible for Australia, with the need to limit warming as much as possible and with the highest probability of success. 

You’ll find the Climate Council Modelling here

We have the technology. We just need the political will. 

^{1 United Nations, What is Climate Change <https://www.un.org/en/climatechange/what-is-climate-change>}

^{2 Henley, Benjamin et al, Highest Ocean heat in four centuries places Great Barrier Reef in danger (August 2024) <https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-024-07672-x>}

^{3 Australian medical Association, Climate Change is a Health Emergency (2019 <https://www.ama.com.au/media/climate-change-health-emergency>}

^{4 Center for Disease Control (CDC), “How are children different from adults?”, < How are Children Different from Adults? | CDC>}

^{5 UNICEF UK, “A breath of toxic air: How unsafe levels of air pollution puts UK children in danger,” 2018, < Microsoft Word - A breath of toxic air - Unicef UK research paper - June 2018.docx>}

^{6 UNICEF Innocenti Report Card 17, Places and Spaces: Environments and children’s wellbeing, 2022, < RC17-EN_Places-and-Spaces_Environments- and-childrens-well-being Report-Card-17.pdf (unicef-irc.org)>}

^{7 Save the Children, Born into the Climate Crisis: Why we must act now to secure children’s rights, 2021, < Born into the Climate Crisis: Why we must act now to secure children’s rights | Save the Children’s Resource Centre>}

^{8 Climate Action Tracker, 2024 Australia <https://climateactiontracker.org/countries/australia/>}

^9 Ibid

^{10 Climate Council (2024) Seize the Decade <https://www.climatecouncil.org.au/wp-content/uploads/2024/03/CC_MVSA0394-CC-Report-Next-Wave_V8-FA-Screen-Single.pdf>}

^{11Climate Council (2023) Mission Zero<https://www.climatecouncil.org.au/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/Mission-Zero_Updated-190923_IL_2.pdf >}