Statement by Ms Annette Ellis, Parliamentary Adviser to the Permanent Mission of Australia, to the United Nations Second Committee regarding Sustainable Development, delivered 2 November 2009.
(as delivered)
Australia is committed to working with the international community to pursue urgent sustainable development goals.
The durability of development is linked with environmental sustainability.
People living in poverty in developing countries are especially vulnerable to damaged environments.
The pace of development and urbanisation creates environmental pressures: Water resources are growing scarce, land is being degraded and some ecosystems are no longer able to support the demands of growing populations.
Australia shares with developing partner countries a common interest in achieving the Millennium Development Goals and a willingness to engage in partnerships to identify specific vulnerabilities and find solutions to the many challenges.
Through our aid program, Australia works with bilateral partners and the international community to address these issues.
We also value the work of the United Nations Commission on Sustainable Development and the important role it plays in achieving sustainable development goals.
To progress implementation of Agenda 21 we have developed a strong national response aimed at lessening the human impact on the environment.
We welcome the opportunity to discuss a possible high-level event on sustainable development in 2012, and look forward to hearing the views of others on this proposal.
But climate change is compounding the environmental pressures faced by populations around the world, and increases the urgency of international action.
In five weeks, the world will meet in Copenhagen to agree on action to tackle climate change – the greatest challenge of our time.
We now recognise that climate change has the potential to destabilise economic growth, exacerbate food shortages and erode recent gains in poverty reduction, all of which can hinder international progress towards the Millennium Development Goals.
These risks demand urgent action.
As host of the Copenhagen Conference, Prime Minister Rasmussen of Denmark has called on leaders to increase their engagement in negotiations over the next five weeks.
The leaders engaged by Prime Minister Rasmussen, which include the Australian Prime Minister, will conduct regular discussions in the lead-up to Copenhagen, focussed on delivering effective action on climate change.
As a lead player in the global efforts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, Prime Minister Rudd will engage actively in these discussions.
Leaders’ engagement is critical to increase political momentum towards Copenhagen, to capture commitments already made, to reach a comprehensive political agreement at Copenhagen, and to guide ongoing negotiations towards a rapid completion of a global treaty.
We must not compromise on our ambitions to limit man-made global warming to a maximum of two degrees centigrade.
To achieve this we must stabilise greenhouse gas emissions at 450 parts per million or lower.
This will require significant emissions cuts from advanced economies by 2020.
Major developing economies must also commit to slow growth in, and then reduce, their absolute level of emissions over time.
And we should set an early year in which global emissions peak, no later than 2020.
There are bold decisions that will need to be made. But we should see these decisions not as threats but as opportunities.
Cuts in greenhouse emissions can be made while maintaining strong economic growth, raising living standards and alleviating poverty.
Economic modelling by the Australian Treasury shows that, if all countries cooperate to cut their emissions, the average income of people in developing economies could grow to more than five times its current level by 2050.
This tells us that with the right international framework, all countries can lower their emissions while maintaining high economic growth.
Recognising that the nature of developing countries actions will differ, Australia is proposing an approach of national schedules to help find common ground between developed and developing countries.
Schedules deliver flexibility, because actions can be tailored to each country’s circumstances.
Another central element of bringing developed and developing countries together in an international agreement will be financing.
Developed countries have the capacity to lead on the provision of public finance to assist developing countries to transform their economies and adjust to climate change impacts.
Australia is committed to scaling up public financing now, up to and beyond post-2012 to support adaptation activities in the poorest countries with the least capacity to adapt, and to ensure that investments in nationally appropriate mitigation actions can be made without sacrificing the over-riding priority of sustainable development.
We will need to develop new technologies and create new mechanisms to make these available around the world.
Our Global Carbon Capture and Storage Institute is aimed at doing exactly this. It will help deliver the G8’s goal of developing at least 20 fully integrated industrial-scale demonstration projects around the world and include capacity building in developing nations, with a focus on India and China.
Domestically, the Australian Government is fully committed to expanding Australia’s use of renewable energy.
We have committed to a number of new initiatives to fulfil this goal, including:
* The introduction of a Carbon Pollution Reduction Scheme;
* An expanded national Renewable Energy Target of 20 per cent by 2020; and
* A $4.5 billion Clean Energy Initiative to support the research, development and demonstration of low emission energy technologies, including a $1.5 billion Solar Flagships program to fund the construction and demonstration of large scale solar power stations.
We encourage all members of the UNFCCC to work towards an ambitious outcome in December that will set us on a path to reduce the damaging effects of climate change and achieve our sustainable development goals.