Asia | Zero effort

Australia’s climate policy is all talk and no trousers

It relies too much on future technology and not enough on present action

THERE IS A “uniquely Australian” way to tackle rising temperatures, believes Scott Morrison, the country’s prime minister. After weeks of being hassled to beef up his climate commitments, his conservative coalition government on October 26th at last pledged to reduce its emissions to “net zero” by 2050—but without addressing the tricky matter of fossil fuels. The country can both deliver “action on climate change” and “protect the Australian way of life”, the prime minister argues.

This article appeared in the Asia section of the print edition under the headline “Zero effort”

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From the October 30th 2021 edition

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