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Business As Usual On Climate Change

Mining and energy stocks are on the rise, new projects and mega-contracts are being announced daily, we are in strange times. Awareness in the community about the negative effects of these processes on the environment has never been so high and at the same time the profits being generated by these processes has equally never been so high.

A couple of announcements over the last few weeks have been interesting in that they show us that progress being made by Green groups in getting the message out about Global Warming is not having much effect in the boardrooms and cabinet rooms of Australia.

Firstly there was the Anvil Hill Coal Mine announcement by the state government. Mere months after running a climate change election campaign they overturned a Land and Environment Court ruling which had put a hold on this development. Secondly, the announcement by BHP that it is going to spend $350 million on its climate change policy, a drop in the bucket in terms of BHP profits and what is needed to make meaningful change. What these two decisions demonstrate are some of the tactics that are going to be used to deflect demands for serious action and to ensure that it is going to be business as usual for the foreseeable future.

In the first case it was suggested that if we don’t mine the coal then someone else will do it, no benefit will be gained for the environment and, more importantly, we will be out of pocket. In the second case we can see an example of greenwashing. This is where a token amount of money and effort is put into a climate change initiative while the majority of money and effort goes into continuing the practices that are causing the trouble.

As usual it is up to the public to set the agenda on environmental issues. The cabinet rooms and boardrooms of Australia are pretty much in sync on this issue. Keep the energy industries going as long as possible, make as much profit as possible while there is still, time, offset public fears with lip service and delaying tactics, wait for someone else to act first and pray that we can cope with any climate change that comes our way.

Both the Liberal and Labor parties are in on the game, both are strongly tied to the business interests that produce the energy, sell it and use it, both are tied to the idea that the economy and jobs must come first, and both are too scared of upsetting the electorate to do what needs to be done.

Only a strong vote for the Greens in the upcoming federal election can send the message that action needs to be taken now and that people are not willing to put up with these delaying tactics.