Climate ‘Denial’ Risks Worse Wildfires in Australia, Report Says
(Bloomberg) --
Australia risks worse wildfires than this season’s record-breaking blazes unless it reduces emissions and phases out fossil-fuel exports, climate scientists warned.
In a report titled “Summer of Crisis,” the Climate Council lobby group said Australian governments ignored warnings from scientists for at least a decade about an impending bushfire disaster.
“If we fail to take strong action to rapidly phase out coal, oil and gas as part of a global effort, the impacts of climate change, including worsening extreme weather, will continue to escalate,” the report said. “Further denial and delay in taking action on emissions guarantees a worsening of disasters into the future.”
The wildfires razed an area the size of England, killed more than 30 people and a billion animals and smashed the nation’s tourism industry. Prime Minister Scott Morrison has repeatedly emphasized the importance of Australia’s vast coal and natural gas resources to the economy, playing down the nation’s role in global emissions.
Rains helped put out the last fire in New South Wales, Australia’s most populous state, earlier this month, ending more than 240 days of blazes. Yet while the precipitation replenished Sydney’s reservoirs, much of the state is still in drought after the hottest and driest year on record.
“Worsening extreme weather is clearly driven by a warming climate,” the report said. “Australia urgently needs a plan to cut our domestic greenhouse gas emissions to net zero and to phase out fossil fuel exports, because we are one of the world’s largest polluters.”
To contact the reporter on this story: Rob Verdonck in Sydney at rverdonck@bloomberg.net
To contact the editors responsible for this story: Ramsey Al-Rikabi at ralrikabi@bloomberg.net, Edward Johnson
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