Sydney, June 25 (IANS) The Australian city of Sydney on Tuesday declared a climate emergency and called for a price on carbon to be reinstated, stressing that global warming poses a danger to its residents and to the whole country.
“By declaring a climate emergency, we call on the Federal Government to respond urgently, by reintroducing a price on carbon to meet the Paris Agreement emissions reduction targets,” said Sydney Mayor Clover Moore on Twitter.
Moore also stressed that Australia’s greenhouse gas emissions have increased over four consecutive years, and denounced the policies taken by the Liberal-National coalition government headed by Prime Minister Scott Morrison, which “are simply not working”, reports Efe news.
Australia has seen a steady rise in greenhouse gas emissions since 2014 when the conservative coalition repealed carbon tax.
Instead, the Australian government has opted to provide financial incentives to businesses and farmers to reduce emissions, including measures to achieve a target 26 percent reduction by 2030.
“Mayor Moore has called the climate emergency for what it is, and in doing so has thrown down the gauntlet to State and Federal Governments who are still pandering to the fossil fuel industry,” said Greenpeace Australia Deputy Director Nic Seton in a statement.
With the emergency declaration, Sydney joins an initiative that “over 620 jurisdictions representing over 80 million people around the world have formally recognized” including 24 in Australia alone along with cities such as London, Auckland and Vancouver, according to Greenpeace.