Getting warmer ...

The IPCC have found that we are already at 379 ppm of just CO2 in the atmosphere without considering non-carbon dioxide emissions such as methane and nitrous oxide. To peak and then return to a 350ppm CO2e stabilisation level requires immediate action to reduce emissions, combined with efforts to increase the quantity of carbon “sinks” to absorb the excess emissions in the atmosphere.

An essential question to ask is: who is responsible for what level of mitigation? A key indicator of equitable burden sharing for greenhouse gas is a per capita or per person level of stabilisation. All people have the same rights of survival, therefore per capita scenarios provide us with the fairest method for assessing responsibility to mitigate climate change.

Meinshausen finds that under population projections each person in the world must reach emissions levels of less than 2 tonnes of CO2e per year if we are to stabilise concentrations at 400ppm by 2050. To give an indication of current annual per capita rates: Australians currently emit 27.5 tonnes of CO2e, Chinese emit 3.05 tonnes of CO2e, and Indians emit 1.4 tonnes of CO2e.

The gross imbalance in consumption levels and pollution levels across the world - considered along with the imperative to act now to avoid a 2C rise in global temperature - means Australians need to expand their sense of global citizenship.

Climate change is an international phenomenon and we can no longer design climate policy out of self-interest alone. We also must immediately shift our intellectual and scientific efforts to understanding how much we need to reduce emissions and by when, all within the criteria of highest certainty of avoiding 2C.