| Dear Inga,
It’s hard to believe that we’re already into the second half of the year, and the Climate Council’s second birthday is fast approaching!
In the last few months we’ve not only been working hard to release more headline-making reports to new and bigger audiences, but also ensuring that misinformation on climate change is challenged and corrected in the media. All of this is made possible by your continued support, so thank you!
With the United Nations Climate Change Conference in Paris now just a few months away, our latest report, Halfway to Paris: How the world is tracking on climate change, explores how the world is stepping up action on climate change. This report was strategically timed to coincide with Australia’s upcoming announcement of its emissions reduction target, and it’s already reached millions of people through both national and international media, and social media. Some of the findings include:
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Australia’s major allies and trading partners are setting strong emissions reduction targets. As one of the the largest emitters per capita, Australia is a crucial global climate change player.
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Australia must cut our greenhouse gas emissions much more deeply and rapidly – with a bare minimum 2030 target of 40-60% reduction below 2000 levels to be in line with the science and to join the rest of the world in taking action.
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From the big players like China and the US to smaller countries, the momentum for action is building.
You can find other key findings and the full report on our website. If you have a moment, we’d love you to share this important report with your networks – the more we can get the facts out there, the better! You might be surprised to learn that a single post on the Climate Council’s facebook page regularly reaches 500,000 people, because thousands of people like you share them.
Speaking of facts – ensuring that conversation about climate change is based on fact, not fiction is paramount. So we’ve continued to stand up and correct misinformation and deliberate muddying of the waters in the media: when The Australian reports that there’s been a pause in global warming and that Arctic ice melts have stabilised, we publicly explain why that’s nonsense. Or when the Federal Government decides to grant $4 million in Australian taxpayer funds to Danish climate contrarian Bjorn Lomborg – we cut straight to the core of why his arguments are deeply flawed and belong nowhere near our universities.
The attacks on science are relentless, and it’s only with the support of people like you that we’re able to do what we do – taking on myth-peddlers and misinformation campaigns so that we can focus our country on real problems and solutions, not distractions. Momentum is building, and so is public concern and pressure – the recently released 2015 Lowy Poll not only recorded the third consecutive rise in Australians’ concern about global warming, but found that a solid majority of Australians want the Australian Government to commit to significant reductions in the lead-up to the UN climate change conference in Paris.
In the coming months, we’ll be releasing more reports with the latest science available, and focusing on getting more of this science in the headlines. We hope you’ll continue to help us get this important information out there – because I do mean it when I say that we’re only as strong as the community that supports us.
Thanks so much,
Amanda McKenzie
CEO, The Climate Council
P.S. Since our funding was cut, it’s only the financial support of people like you that’s keeping us going. If you see our work as valuable and want us to do more: you can make a quick secure online donation here, to help our scientists keep up their excellent work. As always, your support is gratefully received to keep going in a tough political environmen
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