John Podesta threatens “penalties” for Australia’s weak local weather coverage – does that agree?
Guest essay by Eric Worrall
As the demand for Australian coal climbs to new records, the Democrat John Podesta has threatened “consequences” for Australia’s defiance against Biden’s global climate protection initiative. However, there are forces in motion that make the climate of the Biden government geopolitically irrelevant.
Podesta: Quad will demand that Australia do more to tackle climate change
By Latika Bourke
April 28, 2021 – 11:58 p.m. SaveShareNormal text sizeLarge text sizeVery large text size
London: Senior Democrat John Podesta has warned Australia that its Quad peers will face its weak carbon reduction targets as the Biden government puts climate change at the center of their security agenda.
Podesta, a policy advisor, chairs the Washington-based Center for American Progress, led Hillary Clinton’s presidential campaign, and co-chaired the Obama Transitional Committee in 2008.
In conversation with the Rekindling Hope podcast, moderated by Labor climate spokesman Chris Bowen and former Labor candidate Sam Crosby, Podesta said Prime Minister Scott Morrison’s insistence that technology will govern emissions reduction “just won’t reduce it”..
“The Biden government will expect much more than what it received from the government at the summit,” said Podesta. “Everyone is moving and Australia is lagging behind and at the end of the day there will be important ramifications.”
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Biden’s net zero emissions target by 2050 is shared by Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga. Both India and Japan have pledged higher cuts than originally planned for 2030.
Like Morrison however, India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi has not promised any new targets for reducing India’s carbon emissions – The developing giant is the third largest emitter in the world.
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Read more: https://www.smh.com.au/world/europe/podesta-quad-will-demand-australia-does-more-on-climate-change-20210427-p57mwa.html
Why is Australia so relaxed about ignoring the Biden government’s climate threats?
The reason is our Asian market. Asia needs Australian coal and iron ore like never before.
An increasingly aggressive China is investing money in building a fleet that is already somewhat equivalent to the firepower of the US Navy, at least for offshore operations in the South China Sea and the Taiwan Strait.
China’s neighbors, including India, are increasingly concerned about China’s growing sea power and have tacitly launched their own military emergency structures. Vietnam, which has been largely occupied by China or at war with China for the past 2,000 years, is building its maritime militia. Even Japan is building its military to counter the growing threat from China. Of course, Taiwan also takes the threat from China very seriously.
Trillions of dollars are pouring into Asia’s preparations for the next major military confrontation, and Australia is cashing in and selling coal and iron ore to anyone who asks, including China. A significant portion of the Asian superpowers’ growing military budgets is being spent on buying Australian coal and iron ore.
With money on this scale on the table and the promise of much more to come, no one in the Australian government cares what the Biden government has to say about carbon tariffs, climate change or reducing Australian coal exports.
Canada’s Green Prime Minister Justin Trudeau once said: “No country would find and leave 173 billion barrels of oil in the ground.” I think the same goes for Australia’s coal and iron ore bonanza.
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