Charles Jago

All Greens candidates for the NSW state election have been assessed by Vote Climate One as Green Light Candidates because of their strong policy and action on climate.

Charles Jago

CLIMATE CHANGE

Principles

The Greens NSW believe that:

1.    Humans have radically altered Earth’s biophysical environment; this degradation poses the greatest threat to our planet’s climate system. A meaningful shift by communities, governments and corporations to a more harmonious and symbiotic relationship with Earth’s living systems is urgently required.

2.    Climate change threatens all aspects of life. It is already disrupting human societies through changing weather patterns, extreme weather events, desertification and sea level rise. It threatens food security, water, the economy, social cohesion and the well-being of humans and other living things. Impacts will escalate, putting increased pressure on natural resources and consequent impacts on our ability to satisfy basic human needs. These impacts will disproportionately affect the most vulnerable in our society.

3.    There is an urgent need to both reduce emissions to limit the severity of climate change and to proactively plan for a more hostile climate.

4.    The scientific evidence is unequivocal. Average world temperatures continue to rise at an unprecedented rate. This is mainly due to human-induced greenhouse gas emissions (such as carbon dioxide and methane), black carbon in the lower atmosphere and deforestation.

5.    The economic, social and environmental consequences of delaying action are so dangerous that an emergency plan with appropriate investment must be implemented to drastically reduce emissions by 2025 and reach zero or negative net emissions by 2035.

6.    NSW is a wealthy state, ideally placed to take a lead in addressing climate change. There is no excuse for NSW continuing to have high per capita emissions compared to other jurisdictions and being a large contributor to Australian emissions.

7.    NSW should recognise that climate change presents threats of serious and irreversible damage and should take appropriate action, in accordance with the precautionary principle, to mitigate and respond to such threats.

8.    Climate change is an environmental, economic, moral and ethical issue. Future human generations, and other species, must not be burdened with the dire consequences of this generation’s inaction in preventing climate change.

9.    Climate change necessitates a transition away from an economy reliant on unsustainable consumption.  We need to plan and enact a transition to a more sustainable and equitable society as a matter of urgency.

10.    NSW is ideally placed to address climate change and to contribute solutions in many areas, particularly given our ability to innovate and our research capabilities, and these efforts must be supported as a priority.

11.    Short lived climate pollutants (including methane, nitrous oxides, sulphur oxides, hydrofluorocarbons and black carbon) have an enormous short-term impact on global warming. Drastically reducing emissions of these pollutants will have a rapid impact in the transition to a safe climate.

12.    To help ensure appropriate mitigation strategies for both CO2 and short-lived climate pollutants, emissions inventories should show climate impacts over 20 years (the critical period if we are to keep global warming well below 2 degrees) as well as 100 years. Consistent with the precautionary principle, all substances that cause warming (such as black carbon and carbon monoxide) should be considered, even those for which precise Global Warming Potentials (GWPs) are not yet available.

13.    Mining, export and domestic use of fossil fuels contribute to climate change and must be phased out as a matter of urgency. All fossil fuel subsidies should be abolished. 

14.    NSW has the capacity to ensure that our energy supply and land transport needs can be provided by renewable energy.

15.    Agriculture and the production of foods and fibre contribute to climate change. They must both adapt to the impacts of climate change and adopt more sustainable practices to reduce emissions.

16.    While the first priority is to reduce the emission of greenhouse gases, environmentally appropriate methods to draw down these gases can also contribute to achieving long term goals.

17.    Thousands of new jobs, particularly in rural and regional areas, can be created by prioritising investment in low carbon technologies. Similarly, thousands of jobs can be created in adapting urban and regional centres to meet the challenges of climate change.

18.    The costs and benefits of transitioning to net zero global warming must be fairly distributed across society, minimising the adverse impacts on communities that are at the leading edge of change and on those who are most disadvantaged.

19.    Logging and burning wood from forests is not climate neutral and often increases global warming.

Aims

The Greens NSW will work towards:

20.    NSW contributing its fair share of resources and actions to limit the global average temperature increase to well below 2°C and as close as possible to 1.5°C above pre-industrial levels, in keeping with Australia’s ratification of the Paris Agreement.

21.    Incentives for individuals and industries (including agriculture) provided by Government to remove CO2 from the atmosphere, e.g. planting trees, kelp forests, investigating biomass storage and other methods to return to 350 ppm CO2.

22.    Building support in the community for urgent action to achieve a safe climate.

23.    Developing a strategy to effect an equitable transition to a sustainable net zero economy through a range of measures including market and regulatory, including a price on emissions with the proceeds used to compensate low income individuals.

24.    Supporting the transition strategy with a well-funded, comprehensive, integrated and research-based emissions reduction plan with appropriate targets and reporting for all sectors with significant greenhouse emissions.

25.    Achieving 100% clean renewable electrical energy in NSW by 2030, or earlier.

26.    Achieving sufficient renewable electricity capacity to power all heating and land transport, including passenger and freight rail, either by direct use of renewable electricity or, in future, by indirect use, e.g. via electrolysis to produce ‘green’ hydrogen and ammonia.

27.    Implementing emissions reductions and local adaptation strategies in conjunction with other governments, national, state and local, and in consultation with local communities.

28.    Implementing emissions reduction strategies as outlined in the relevant Greens NSW policies of Energy, Transport, Planning and Infrastructure, Coal and Coal Seam Gas, Forestry (in development), Coastal Management and Sustainable Agriculture and Rural Land Use and Waste (see links at the end of this document).

29.    Introducing a ban on donations to political parties or candidates from any person or corporation with a commercial interest in any aspect of the fossil fuel industry including mining, transport, electricity generation or distribution.

30.    Ensuring that impacts and opportunities are spread as fairly as possible across society with assistance to those at the leading edge of change and those who are most disadvantaged.

31.    Funding research into the local impacts of climate change and methods to minimise their impact.

32.    Proactive assistance to other nations, particularly in our region, to create safe climate economies, and adapt to climate change through appropriate technology transfer and other forms of assistance, including resettling and rehousing displaced populations where required.

Relevant policies

Almost all Greens policies relate to the management of the Climate Emergency, especially:

Air QualityAgriculture and Rural Land UseBiodiversityBushfire Risk ManagementCoal and GasCoastal ManagementEnergyEnvironmental Impact AssessmentForestsHousing and HomelessnessIndustryPlanning and InfrastructureRegional DevelopmentTransport, and Waste Elimination.

Views expressed in this post are those of its author(s), not necessarily all Vote Climate One members.

Heather Armstrong

All Greens candidates for the NSW state election have been assessed by Vote Climate One as Green Light Candidates because of their strong policy and action on climate.

Heather Armstrong.jpg

CLIMATE CHANGE

Principles

The Greens NSW believe that:

1.    Humans have radically altered Earth’s biophysical environment; this degradation poses the greatest threat to our planet’s climate system. A meaningful shift by communities, governments and corporations to a more harmonious and symbiotic relationship with Earth’s living systems is urgently required.

2.    Climate change threatens all aspects of life. It is already disrupting human societies through changing weather patterns, extreme weather events, desertification and sea level rise. It threatens food security, water, the economy, social cohesion and the well-being of humans and other living things. Impacts will escalate, putting increased pressure on natural resources and consequent impacts on our ability to satisfy basic human needs. These impacts will disproportionately affect the most vulnerable in our society.

3.    There is an urgent need to both reduce emissions to limit the severity of climate change and to proactively plan for a more hostile climate.

4.    The scientific evidence is unequivocal. Average world temperatures continue to rise at an unprecedented rate. This is mainly due to human-induced greenhouse gas emissions (such as carbon dioxide and methane), black carbon in the lower atmosphere and deforestation.

5.    The economic, social and environmental consequences of delaying action are so dangerous that an emergency plan with appropriate investment must be implemented to drastically reduce emissions by 2025 and reach zero or negative net emissions by 2035.

6.    NSW is a wealthy state, ideally placed to take a lead in addressing climate change. There is no excuse for NSW continuing to have high per capita emissions compared to other jurisdictions and being a large contributor to Australian emissions.

7.    NSW should recognise that climate change presents threats of serious and irreversible damage and should take appropriate action, in accordance with the precautionary principle, to mitigate and respond to such threats.

8.    Climate change is an environmental, economic, moral and ethical issue. Future human generations, and other species, must not be burdened with the dire consequences of this generation’s inaction in preventing climate change.

9.    Climate change necessitates a transition away from an economy reliant on unsustainable consumption.  We need to plan and enact a transition to a more sustainable and equitable society as a matter of urgency.

10.    NSW is ideally placed to address climate change and to contribute solutions in many areas, particularly given our ability to innovate and our research capabilities, and these efforts must be supported as a priority.

11.    Short lived climate pollutants (including methane, nitrous oxides, sulphur oxides, hydrofluorocarbons and black carbon) have an enormous short-term impact on global warming. Drastically reducing emissions of these pollutants will have a rapid impact in the transition to a safe climate.

12.    To help ensure appropriate mitigation strategies for both CO2 and short-lived climate pollutants, emissions inventories should show climate impacts over 20 years (the critical period if we are to keep global warming well below 2 degrees) as well as 100 years. Consistent with the precautionary principle, all substances that cause warming (such as black carbon and carbon monoxide) should be considered, even those for which precise Global Warming Potentials (GWPs) are not yet available.

13.    Mining, export and domestic use of fossil fuels contribute to climate change and must be phased out as a matter of urgency. All fossil fuel subsidies should be abolished. 

14.    NSW has the capacity to ensure that our energy supply and land transport needs can be provided by renewable energy.

15.    Agriculture and the production of foods and fibre contribute to climate change. They must both adapt to the impacts of climate change and adopt more sustainable practices to reduce emissions.

16.    While the first priority is to reduce the emission of greenhouse gases, environmentally appropriate methods to draw down these gases can also contribute to achieving long term goals.

17.    Thousands of new jobs, particularly in rural and regional areas, can be created by prioritising investment in low carbon technologies. Similarly, thousands of jobs can be created in adapting urban and regional centres to meet the challenges of climate change.

18.    The costs and benefits of transitioning to net zero global warming must be fairly distributed across society, minimising the adverse impacts on communities that are at the leading edge of change and on those who are most disadvantaged.

19.    Logging and burning wood from forests is not climate neutral and often increases global warming.

Aims

The Greens NSW will work towards:

20.    NSW contributing its fair share of resources and actions to limit the global average temperature increase to well below 2°C and as close as possible to 1.5°C above pre-industrial levels, in keeping with Australia’s ratification of the Paris Agreement.

21.    Incentives for individuals and industries (including agriculture) provided by Government to remove CO2 from the atmosphere, e.g. planting trees, kelp forests, investigating biomass storage and other methods to return to 350 ppm CO2.

22.    Building support in the community for urgent action to achieve a safe climate.

23.    Developing a strategy to effect an equitable transition to a sustainable net zero economy through a range of measures including market and regulatory, including a price on emissions with the proceeds used to compensate low income individuals.

24.    Supporting the transition strategy with a well-funded, comprehensive, integrated and research-based emissions reduction plan with appropriate targets and reporting for all sectors with significant greenhouse emissions.

25.    Achieving 100% clean renewable electrical energy in NSW by 2030, or earlier.

26.    Achieving sufficient renewable electricity capacity to power all heating and land transport, including passenger and freight rail, either by direct use of renewable electricity or, in future, by indirect use, e.g. via electrolysis to produce ‘green’ hydrogen and ammonia.

27.    Implementing emissions reductions and local adaptation strategies in conjunction with other governments, national, state and local, and in consultation with local communities.

28.    Implementing emissions reduction strategies as outlined in the relevant Greens NSW policies of Energy, Transport, Planning and Infrastructure, Coal and Coal Seam Gas, Forestry (in development), Coastal Management and Sustainable Agriculture and Rural Land Use and Waste (see links at the end of this document).

29.    Introducing a ban on donations to political parties or candidates from any person or corporation with a commercial interest in any aspect of the fossil fuel industry including mining, transport, electricity generation or distribution.

30.    Ensuring that impacts and opportunities are spread as fairly as possible across society with assistance to those at the leading edge of change and those who are most disadvantaged.

31.    Funding research into the local impacts of climate change and methods to minimise their impact.

32.    Proactive assistance to other nations, particularly in our region, to create safe climate economies, and adapt to climate change through appropriate technology transfer and other forms of assistance, including resettling and rehousing displaced populations where required.

Relevant policies

Almost all Greens policies relate to the management of the Climate Emergency, especially:

Air QualityAgriculture and Rural Land UseBiodiversityBushfire Risk ManagementCoal and GasCoastal ManagementEnergyEnvironmental Impact AssessmentForestsHousing and HomelessnessIndustryPlanning and InfrastructureRegional DevelopmentTransport, and Waste Elimination.

Views expressed in this post are those of its author(s), not necessarily all Vote Climate One members.

Earth’s annual healthcheck — and our future

A compendium of graphs plots key indicators of our changing climate. Unless trends are reversed today’s lethal extremes will be lethal new normals’.

Climate scientist Zach Labe shows us in a collection of simple graphs from his WordPress page how many of Planet Earth’s vital signs have been changing over recent decades. He plots the best available data, and lets the plots tell the story without adding his redundant commentary.

However, If you want, you can still follow links that explains how the data was collected and analyzed. Click on Climate Visualizations at the top of the screen to open a pull-down menu, and then on FAQ and my methods at the bottom of that menu.

Plotting the reality

Four critical variables (the three critical greenhouse gases and global average temperature) show us how our changing climate is progressing.

The collection of graphs shows completely unambiguously that ever more heat energy is being loaded into our planetary climate system to make it hotter and more humid — where heat and humidity are the drivers for all kinds of extreme weather events.

If you look at the most recent years of Rising Temperature (beginning with 2020) you might think temperatures have stopped rising. However, this is almost certainly dangerously wrong. We have just finished an unusual three successive periods of La Niña conditions that result in below average global temperatures. GIven the generally increasing rate of temperature rise, the next El Niño periods are likely to be substantially hotter than the last ones (2014-2019) when Australia suffered the record-breaking bushfires of our Black Summer that even burned temperate rainforests that survived previous fires for many hundreds of years.

What do the graphs tell us?

In the past VoteClimateOne’s Climate Sentinel News has posted many articles attesting to the increasing frequency, extent and ferocity of extreme weather and the increasing chaos and costs these cause.

As the energy in the climate system continues to rise, catastrophes will increasingly overlap such that more damage and chaos will be caused by following events before recovery from earlier ones is complete. We are already seeing examples of this in NSW’s Northern Rivers and southwestern areas. At some point (in the not distant future — if global warming is not reversed) the still growing social and physical costs will lead to social and physical collapse of society.

Can you do something to change the picture?

At this point both major political parties in the NSW government are still defending and even subsidizing the fossil fuel industry’s (coal and gas) continuing increasing emissions of greenhouse gases.

It is time for you to help elect a government able to act effectively against the climate emergency by ensuring neither party has a majority to do things without people’s support. Hard-right members in either party who will do deals with anyone to stay in power to enforce their religiofascist dogmas tend to ignore even stark objective realities such as the climate crisis shown by Earth’s vital sighs. Such people need to be replaced by electing teals, other community-oriented independents and Greens who accept the reality of the climate emergency and are willing to prioritize acting on it.

My Climate Sentinel News article, Is Premier Perrettet a far-right puppet, or the puppet master?, documents and explains how the kind of ultra dogmatic hard-right politicians got into power that most need to be replaced by parliamentarians who will represent and work for the voters’ benefits. As the now deceased Lyenko Urbanchich, ex MLC David Clarke, federal Senator Alex Hawke, the Tudehope family and the Perrottet family have shown on the far right of the NSW Liberal Party, if your faction can fill key positions in party and factional organizations with collaborators who can organize cadres of ‘storm troops’, it is easy to put whoever the faction ‘leader(s)’ may want into Parliament. The party’s ‘safest’ seats are taken over by using the cadres to subvert preselections by branch stacking and simple thuggery or by bypassing preselection entirely with direct appointments (as has been demonstrated many times over the 40 years of history covered in my article).

Here I focused on the Liberal hard-right. But it should be recognized that Labor also has had and probably still has a very similar hard-right. This was made most evident in the impact Bob Santamaria had on the Labor Party in the 1950’s that led to it a near-lethal split to form the Democratic Labor Party. I have not had the time to adequately research the NSW Labor Party, but its leader, Chris Minns shares many characteristics with Dominic Perrottet, and has even backed and defended him over the treatment of climate protester Violet Coco. Like the Liberals, Labor also safe seats giving factions many opportunities to subvert real democracy. To me this is more than enough reason for VoteClimateOne to advise voters in such seats not to vote for factional puppets in hopes of making the seat marginal. Even if you don’t get rid of the puppet this time, you may be given a real opportunity in the next election to preselect someone actually representing you (rather than someone dogma) in the next election.

How to vote?

We won’t suggest who you should vote for. However we try to show you in our NSW voting guides where we think each candidate in your electorate stands relative to action on the climate emergency and whether we think there are reasons a particular candidate might be considered to be a puppet or less trustworthy on issues than others in the electorate. These recommendations won’t be complete or final until we have had a chance to work our way through those on the ballots provided by the Electoral Commission.

Featured image

Featured image from Dettre, M., (18/08/2022). Lismore City News, Questions over NSW flood victims’ buyback / More than a thousand people lost homes in the NSW Northern Rivers floods. (Darren England/AAP PHOTOS).

Health Minister Minster Mark Butler says ongoing trauma can manifest in increased rates of anxiety, post-traumatic stress and domestic and family violence: “Mental health is one of the government’s highest priorities and I recognise that these flooding events have been hugely traumatic for many people,” he said…. For some of these communities, this has been their fourth flood in 18 months.”

Views expressed in this post are those of its author(s), not necessarily all Vote Climate One members.

The Open Party

Views expressed in this post are those of its author(s), not necessarily all Vote Climate One members.

Catherine Dyson

All Greens candidates for the NSW state election have been assessed by Vote Climate One as Green Light Candidates because of their strong policy and action on climate.

Catherine Dyson 1.jpg

CLIMATE CHANGE

Principles

The Greens NSW believe that:

1.    Humans have radically altered Earth’s biophysical environment; this degradation poses the greatest threat to our planet’s climate system. A meaningful shift by communities, governments and corporations to a more harmonious and symbiotic relationship with Earth’s living systems is urgently required.

2.    Climate change threatens all aspects of life. It is already disrupting human societies through changing weather patterns, extreme weather events, desertification and sea level rise. It threatens food security, water, the economy, social cohesion and the well-being of humans and other living things. Impacts will escalate, putting increased pressure on natural resources and consequent impacts on our ability to satisfy basic human needs. These impacts will disproportionately affect the most vulnerable in our society.

3.    There is an urgent need to both reduce emissions to limit the severity of climate change and to proactively plan for a more hostile climate.

4.    The scientific evidence is unequivocal. Average world temperatures continue to rise at an unprecedented rate. This is mainly due to human-induced greenhouse gas emissions (such as carbon dioxide and methane), black carbon in the lower atmosphere and deforestation.

5.    The economic, social and environmental consequences of delaying action are so dangerous that an emergency plan with appropriate investment must be implemented to drastically reduce emissions by 2025 and reach zero or negative net emissions by 2035.

6.    NSW is a wealthy state, ideally placed to take a lead in addressing climate change. There is no excuse for NSW continuing to have high per capita emissions compared to other jurisdictions and being a large contributor to Australian emissions.

7.    NSW should recognise that climate change presents threats of serious and irreversible damage and should take appropriate action, in accordance with the precautionary principle, to mitigate and respond to such threats.

8.    Climate change is an environmental, economic, moral and ethical issue. Future human generations, and other species, must not be burdened with the dire consequences of this generation’s inaction in preventing climate change.

9.    Climate change necessitates a transition away from an economy reliant on unsustainable consumption.  We need to plan and enact a transition to a more sustainable and equitable society as a matter of urgency.

10.    NSW is ideally placed to address climate change and to contribute solutions in many areas, particularly given our ability to innovate and our research capabilities, and these efforts must be supported as a priority.

11.    Short lived climate pollutants (including methane, nitrous oxides, sulphur oxides, hydrofluorocarbons and black carbon) have an enormous short-term impact on global warming. Drastically reducing emissions of these pollutants will have a rapid impact in the transition to a safe climate.

12.    To help ensure appropriate mitigation strategies for both CO2 and short-lived climate pollutants, emissions inventories should show climate impacts over 20 years (the critical period if we are to keep global warming well below 2 degrees) as well as 100 years. Consistent with the precautionary principle, all substances that cause warming (such as black carbon and carbon monoxide) should be considered, even those for which precise Global Warming Potentials (GWPs) are not yet available.

13.    Mining, export and domestic use of fossil fuels contribute to climate change and must be phased out as a matter of urgency. All fossil fuel subsidies should be abolished. 

14.    NSW has the capacity to ensure that our energy supply and land transport needs can be provided by renewable energy.

15.    Agriculture and the production of foods and fibre contribute to climate change. They must both adapt to the impacts of climate change and adopt more sustainable practices to reduce emissions.

16.    While the first priority is to reduce the emission of greenhouse gases, environmentally appropriate methods to draw down these gases can also contribute to achieving long term goals.

17.    Thousands of new jobs, particularly in rural and regional areas, can be created by prioritising investment in low carbon technologies. Similarly, thousands of jobs can be created in adapting urban and regional centres to meet the challenges of climate change.

18.    The costs and benefits of transitioning to net zero global warming must be fairly distributed across society, minimising the adverse impacts on communities that are at the leading edge of change and on those who are most disadvantaged.

19.    Logging and burning wood from forests is not climate neutral and often increases global warming.

Aims

The Greens NSW will work towards:

20.    NSW contributing its fair share of resources and actions to limit the global average temperature increase to well below 2°C and as close as possible to 1.5°C above pre-industrial levels, in keeping with Australia’s ratification of the Paris Agreement.

21.    Incentives for individuals and industries (including agriculture) provided by Government to remove CO2 from the atmosphere, e.g. planting trees, kelp forests, investigating biomass storage and other methods to return to 350 ppm CO2.

22.    Building support in the community for urgent action to achieve a safe climate.

23.    Developing a strategy to effect an equitable transition to a sustainable net zero economy through a range of measures including market and regulatory, including a price on emissions with the proceeds used to compensate low income individuals.

24.    Supporting the transition strategy with a well-funded, comprehensive, integrated and research-based emissions reduction plan with appropriate targets and reporting for all sectors with significant greenhouse emissions.

25.    Achieving 100% clean renewable electrical energy in NSW by 2030, or earlier.

26.    Achieving sufficient renewable electricity capacity to power all heating and land transport, including passenger and freight rail, either by direct use of renewable electricity or, in future, by indirect use, e.g. via electrolysis to produce ‘green’ hydrogen and ammonia.

27.    Implementing emissions reductions and local adaptation strategies in conjunction with other governments, national, state and local, and in consultation with local communities.

28.    Implementing emissions reduction strategies as outlined in the relevant Greens NSW policies of Energy, Transport, Planning and Infrastructure, Coal and Coal Seam Gas, Forestry (in development), Coastal Management and Sustainable Agriculture and Rural Land Use and Waste (see links at the end of this document).

29.    Introducing a ban on donations to political parties or candidates from any person or corporation with a commercial interest in any aspect of the fossil fuel industry including mining, transport, electricity generation or distribution.

30.    Ensuring that impacts and opportunities are spread as fairly as possible across society with assistance to those at the leading edge of change and those who are most disadvantaged.

31.    Funding research into the local impacts of climate change and methods to minimise their impact.

32.    Proactive assistance to other nations, particularly in our region, to create safe climate economies, and adapt to climate change through appropriate technology transfer and other forms of assistance, including resettling and rehousing displaced populations where required.

Relevant policies

Almost all Greens policies relate to the management of the Climate Emergency, especially:

Air QualityAgriculture and Rural Land UseBiodiversityBushfire Risk ManagementCoal and GasCoastal ManagementEnergyEnvironmental Impact AssessmentForestsHousing and HomelessnessIndustryPlanning and InfrastructureRegional DevelopmentTransport, and Waste Elimination.

Revised October 2022

Views expressed in this post are those of its author(s), not necessarily all Vote Climate One members.

Chris Kerle

All Greens candidates for the NSW state election have been assessed by Vote Climate One as Green Light Candidates because of their strong policy and action on climate.

CLIMATE CHANGE

Principles

The Greens NSW believe that:

1.    Humans have radically altered Earth’s biophysical environment; this degradation poses the greatest threat to our planet’s climate system. A meaningful shift by communities, governments and corporations to a more harmonious and symbiotic relationship with Earth’s living systems is urgently required.

2.    Climate change threatens all aspects of life. It is already disrupting human societies through changing weather patterns, extreme weather events, desertification and sea level rise. It threatens food security, water, the economy, social cohesion and the well-being of humans and other living things. Impacts will escalate, putting increased pressure on natural resources and consequent impacts on our ability to satisfy basic human needs. These impacts will disproportionately affect the most vulnerable in our society.

3.    There is an urgent need to both reduce emissions to limit the severity of climate change and to proactively plan for a more hostile climate.

4.    The scientific evidence is unequivocal. Average world temperatures continue to rise at an unprecedented rate. This is mainly due to human-induced greenhouse gas emissions (such as carbon dioxide and methane), black carbon in the lower atmosphere and deforestation.

5.    The economic, social and environmental consequences of delaying action are so dangerous that an emergency plan with appropriate investment must be implemented to drastically reduce emissions by 2025 and reach zero or negative net emissions by 2035.

6.    NSW is a wealthy state, ideally placed to take a lead in addressing climate change. There is no excuse for NSW continuing to have high per capita emissions compared to other jurisdictions and being a large contributor to Australian emissions.

7.    NSW should recognise that climate change presents threats of serious and irreversible damage and should take appropriate action, in accordance with the precautionary principle, to mitigate and respond to such threats.

8.    Climate change is an environmental, economic, moral and ethical issue. Future human generations, and other species, must not be burdened with the dire consequences of this generation’s inaction in preventing climate change.

9.    Climate change necessitates a transition away from an economy reliant on unsustainable consumption.  We need to plan and enact a transition to a more sustainable and equitable society as a matter of urgency.

10.    NSW is ideally placed to address climate change and to contribute solutions in many areas, particularly given our ability to innovate and our research capabilities, and these efforts must be supported as a priority.

11.    Short lived climate pollutants (including methane, nitrous oxides, sulphur oxides, hydrofluorocarbons and black carbon) have an enormous short-term impact on global warming. Drastically reducing emissions of these pollutants will have a rapid impact in the transition to a safe climate.

12.    To help ensure appropriate mitigation strategies for both CO2 and short-lived climate pollutants, emissions inventories should show climate impacts over 20 years (the critical period if we are to keep global warming well below 2 degrees) as well as 100 years. Consistent with the precautionary principle, all substances that cause warming (such as black carbon and carbon monoxide) should be considered, even those for which precise Global Warming Potentials (GWPs) are not yet available.

13.    Mining, export and domestic use of fossil fuels contribute to climate change and must be phased out as a matter of urgency. All fossil fuel subsidies should be abolished. 

14.    NSW has the capacity to ensure that our energy supply and land transport needs can be provided by renewable energy.

15.    Agriculture and the production of foods and fibre contribute to climate change. They must both adapt to the impacts of climate change and adopt more sustainable practices to reduce emissions.

16.    While the first priority is to reduce the emission of greenhouse gases, environmentally appropriate methods to draw down these gases can also contribute to achieving long term goals.

17.    Thousands of new jobs, particularly in rural and regional areas, can be created by prioritising investment in low carbon technologies. Similarly, thousands of jobs can be created in adapting urban and regional centres to meet the challenges of climate change.

18.    The costs and benefits of transitioning to net zero global warming must be fairly distributed across society, minimising the adverse impacts on communities that are at the leading edge of change and on those who are most disadvantaged.

19.    Logging and burning wood from forests is not climate neutral and often increases global warming.

Aims

The Greens NSW will work towards:

20.    NSW contributing its fair share of resources and actions to limit the global average temperature increase to well below 2°C and as close as possible to 1.5°C above pre-industrial levels, in keeping with Australia’s ratification of the Paris Agreement.

21.    Incentives for individuals and industries (including agriculture) provided by Government to remove CO2 from the atmosphere, e.g. planting trees, kelp forests, investigating biomass storage and other methods to return to 350 ppm CO2.

22.    Building support in the community for urgent action to achieve a safe climate.

23.    Developing a strategy to effect an equitable transition to a sustainable net zero economy through a range of measures including market and regulatory, including a price on emissions with the proceeds used to compensate low income individuals.

24.    Supporting the transition strategy with a well-funded, comprehensive, integrated and research-based emissions reduction plan with appropriate targets and reporting for all sectors with significant greenhouse emissions.

25.    Achieving 100% clean renewable electrical energy in NSW by 2030, or earlier.

26.    Achieving sufficient renewable electricity capacity to power all heating and land transport, including passenger and freight rail, either by direct use of renewable electricity or, in future, by indirect use, e.g. via electrolysis to produce ‘green’ hydrogen and ammonia.

27.    Implementing emissions reductions and local adaptation strategies in conjunction with other governments, national, state and local, and in consultation with local communities.

28.    Implementing emissions reduction strategies as outlined in the relevant Greens NSW policies of Energy, Transport, Planning and Infrastructure, Coal and Coal Seam Gas, Forestry (in development), Coastal Management and Sustainable Agriculture and Rural Land Use and Waste (see links at the end of this document).

29.    Introducing a ban on donations to political parties or candidates from any person or corporation with a commercial interest in any aspect of the fossil fuel industry including mining, transport, electricity generation or distribution.

30.    Ensuring that impacts and opportunities are spread as fairly as possible across society with assistance to those at the leading edge of change and those who are most disadvantaged.

31.    Funding research into the local impacts of climate change and methods to minimise their impact.

32.    Proactive assistance to other nations, particularly in our region, to create safe climate economies, and adapt to climate change through appropriate technology transfer and other forms of assistance, including resettling and rehousing displaced populations where required.

Relevant policies

Almost all Greens policies relate to the management of the Climate Emergency, especially:

Air QualityAgriculture and Rural Land UseBiodiversityBushfire Risk ManagementCoal and GasCoastal ManagementEnergyEnvironmental Impact AssessmentForestsHousing and HomelessnessIndustryPlanning and InfrastructureRegional DevelopmentTransport, and Waste Elimination.

Revised October 2022

Views expressed in this post are those of its author(s), not necessarily all Vote Climate One members.

Shooters, Fishers and Farmers Party (NSW) Incorporated

Our assessment process identified this party as a very dangerous choice if we want action on global warming. We advise you to number candidates affiliated with this party last on your ballot papers.

Views expressed in this post are those of its author(s), not necessarily all Vote Climate One members.

The Liberal Party of Australia, New South Wales Division

The Liberal Party of Australia is part of the Liberal National Party Coalition. Members of political parties invariably vote on party lines whatever their personal opinion may be on a particular parliamentary decision. All Liberal National Party Coalition candidates are a dangerous prospect considering the urgent need for national leadership on the climate emergency. Number them last on your ballot paper after the green or orange candidates.

Views expressed in this post are those of its author(s), not necessarily all Vote Climate One members.

Pat Schultz

All Greens candidates for the NSW state election have been assessed by Vote Climate One as Green Light Candidates because of their strong policy and action on climate.

Pat Schultz high res.jpg

CLIMATE CHANGE

Principles

The Greens NSW believe that:

1.    Humans have radically altered Earth’s biophysical environment; this degradation poses the greatest threat to our planet’s climate system. A meaningful shift by communities, governments and corporations to a more harmonious and symbiotic relationship with Earth’s living systems is urgently required.

2.    Climate change threatens all aspects of life. It is already disrupting human societies through changing weather patterns, extreme weather events, desertification and sea level rise. It threatens food security, water, the economy, social cohesion and the well-being of humans and other living things. Impacts will escalate, putting increased pressure on natural resources and consequent impacts on our ability to satisfy basic human needs. These impacts will disproportionately affect the most vulnerable in our society.

3.    There is an urgent need to both reduce emissions to limit the severity of climate change and to proactively plan for a more hostile climate.

4.    The scientific evidence is unequivocal. Average world temperatures continue to rise at an unprecedented rate. This is mainly due to human-induced greenhouse gas emissions (such as carbon dioxide and methane), black carbon in the lower atmosphere and deforestation.

5.    The economic, social and environmental consequences of delaying action are so dangerous that an emergency plan with appropriate investment must be implemented to drastically reduce emissions by 2025 and reach zero or negative net emissions by 2035.

6.    NSW is a wealthy state, ideally placed to take a lead in addressing climate change. There is no excuse for NSW continuing to have high per capita emissions compared to other jurisdictions and being a large contributor to Australian emissions.

7.    NSW should recognise that climate change presents threats of serious and irreversible damage and should take appropriate action, in accordance with the precautionary principle, to mitigate and respond to such threats.

8.    Climate change is an environmental, economic, moral and ethical issue. Future human generations, and other species, must not be burdened with the dire consequences of this generation’s inaction in preventing climate change.

9.    Climate change necessitates a transition away from an economy reliant on unsustainable consumption.  We need to plan and enact a transition to a more sustainable and equitable society as a matter of urgency.

10.    NSW is ideally placed to address climate change and to contribute solutions in many areas, particularly given our ability to innovate and our research capabilities, and these efforts must be supported as a priority.

11.    Short lived climate pollutants (including methane, nitrous oxides, sulphur oxides, hydrofluorocarbons and black carbon) have an enormous short-term impact on global warming. Drastically reducing emissions of these pollutants will have a rapid impact in the transition to a safe climate.

12.    To help ensure appropriate mitigation strategies for both CO2 and short-lived climate pollutants, emissions inventories should show climate impacts over 20 years (the critical period if we are to keep global warming well below 2 degrees) as well as 100 years. Consistent with the precautionary principle, all substances that cause warming (such as black carbon and carbon monoxide) should be considered, even those for which precise Global Warming Potentials (GWPs) are not yet available.

13.    Mining, export and domestic use of fossil fuels contribute to climate change and must be phased out as a matter of urgency. All fossil fuel subsidies should be abolished. 

14.    NSW has the capacity to ensure that our energy supply and land transport needs can be provided by renewable energy.

15.    Agriculture and the production of foods and fibre contribute to climate change. They must both adapt to the impacts of climate change and adopt more sustainable practices to reduce emissions.

16.    While the first priority is to reduce the emission of greenhouse gases, environmentally appropriate methods to draw down these gases can also contribute to achieving long term goals.

17.    Thousands of new jobs, particularly in rural and regional areas, can be created by prioritising investment in low carbon technologies. Similarly, thousands of jobs can be created in adapting urban and regional centres to meet the challenges of climate change.

18.    The costs and benefits of transitioning to net zero global warming must be fairly distributed across society, minimising the adverse impacts on communities that are at the leading edge of change and on those who are most disadvantaged.

19.    Logging and burning wood from forests is not climate neutral and often increases global warming.

Aims

The Greens NSW will work towards:

20.    NSW contributing its fair share of resources and actions to limit the global average temperature increase to well below 2°C and as close as possible to 1.5°C above pre-industrial levels, in keeping with Australia’s ratification of the Paris Agreement.

21.    Incentives for individuals and industries (including agriculture) provided by Government to remove CO2 from the atmosphere, e.g. planting trees, kelp forests, investigating biomass storage and other methods to return to 350 ppm CO2.

22.    Building support in the community for urgent action to achieve a safe climate.

23.    Developing a strategy to effect an equitable transition to a sustainable net zero economy through a range of measures including market and regulatory, including a price on emissions with the proceeds used to compensate low income individuals.

24.    Supporting the transition strategy with a well-funded, comprehensive, integrated and research-based emissions reduction plan with appropriate targets and reporting for all sectors with significant greenhouse emissions.

25.    Achieving 100% clean renewable electrical energy in NSW by 2030, or earlier.

26.    Achieving sufficient renewable electricity capacity to power all heating and land transport, including passenger and freight rail, either by direct use of renewable electricity or, in future, by indirect use, e.g. via electrolysis to produce ‘green’ hydrogen and ammonia.

27.    Implementing emissions reductions and local adaptation strategies in conjunction with other governments, national, state and local, and in consultation with local communities.

28.    Implementing emissions reduction strategies as outlined in the relevant Greens NSW policies of Energy, Transport, Planning and Infrastructure, Coal and Coal Seam Gas, Forestry (in development), Coastal Management and Sustainable Agriculture and Rural Land Use and Waste (see links at the end of this document).

29.    Introducing a ban on donations to political parties or candidates from any person or corporation with a commercial interest in any aspect of the fossil fuel industry including mining, transport, electricity generation or distribution.

30.    Ensuring that impacts and opportunities are spread as fairly as possible across society with assistance to those at the leading edge of change and those who are most disadvantaged.

31.    Funding research into the local impacts of climate change and methods to minimise their impact.

32.    Proactive assistance to other nations, particularly in our region, to create safe climate economies, and adapt to climate change through appropriate technology transfer and other forms of assistance, including resettling and rehousing displaced populations where required.

Relevant policies

Almost all Greens policies relate to the management of the Climate Emergency, especially:

Air QualityAgriculture and Rural Land UseBiodiversityBushfire Risk ManagementCoal and GasCoastal ManagementEnergyEnvironmental Impact AssessmentForestsHousing and HomelessnessIndustryPlanning and InfrastructureRegional DevelopmentTransport, and Waste Elimination.

Revised October 2022

Views expressed in this post are those of its author(s), not necessarily all Vote Climate One members.