Our planet is heating up at a rate never seen before.

• See the European Space Agency Copernicus, 10 January 2025, 2024 Annual Climate Summary Global Climate Highlights 2024, that asserts “2024 was the first year with global temperature more than 1.5°C above the pre-industrial level; 11 months of the year saw the global-average surface air temperature above this threshold. The combined average temperature for 2023 and 2024 is 1.54°C above the pre-industrial level.” https://climate.copernicus.eu/global-climate-highlights-2024
• See IPCC 6th Assessment Synthesis Report. IPCC, 2023: Sections. In: Climate Change 2023: Synthesis Report. Contribution of Working Groups I, II and III to the Sixth Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change [Core Writing Team, H. Lee and J. Romero (eds.)]. IPCC, Geneva, Switzerland, pp. 35-115, doi: 10.59327/IPCC/AR6-9789291691647 https://www.ipcc.ch/report/ar6/syr/
• WMO, 12 January 2024, WMO confirms that 2023 smashes global temperature record https://wmo.int/news/media-centre/wmo-confirms-2023-smashes-global-temperature-record
• WMO, 5 December 2023, Rate and impact of climate change surges dramatically in 2011-2020 https://wmo.int/news/media-centre/rate-and-impact-of-climate-change-surges-dramatically-2011-2020
• CSIRO/BOM State of the Climate report 2022 for Australia https://www.csiro.au/en/research/environmental-impacts/climate-change/state-of-the-climate
• BOM in the climate driver update 24 Feb 2024 reported: “The global mean temperature for the 12 months February 2023 to January 2024 was the highest on record, with Copernicus reporting that it was 1.52 °C above the 1850–1900 pre-industrial average. However, the magnitude of global warming is assessed using multi-year averages, and a single 12-month period does not mean that the 1.5 °C target referred to in the Paris Agreement has been exceeded. Australia’s climate has warmed by 1.50 ± 0.23 °C between 1910 and 2023, leading to an increase in the frequency of extreme heat events. In recent decades, there has also been a trend towards a greater proportion of rainfall from high intensity, short duration rainfall events, especially across northern Australia during the wet season. April to October rainfall has declined across southern Australia in recent decades, due to a combination of long-term natural variability and changes in atmospheric circulation caused by increasing greenhouse gas concentrations.

Floods and fires are increasing.

• See Australian National University, 11 January 2024, Record heat in 2023 worsened global droughts, floods and wildfires https://www.anu.edu.au/news/all-news/record-heat-in-2023-worsened-global-droughts-floods-and-wildfires
• The Conversation, 20 December 2023, 2023’s extreme storms, heat and wildfires broke records – a scientist explains how global warming fuels climate disasters https://theconversation.com/2023s-extreme-storms-heat-and-wildfires-broke-records-a-scientist-explains-how-global-warming-fuels-climate-disasters-217500

The oceans are warming and the ice caps are melting.

• See Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, 8 June 2023, ‘Uncharted territory’: Warming oceans and disappearing sea ice alarm scientists https://thebulletin.org/2023/06/uncharted-territory-warming-oceans-and-disappearing-sea-ice-alarm-scientists/
• Phys.org, 31 January 2024, Unprecedented ocean heating shows risks of world 3C warmer https://phys.org/news/2024-01-unprecedented-ocean-world-3c-warmer.html
• Common Dreams, 25 April 2023, Ocean Warming Study So Distressing, Some Scientists Didn’t Even Want to Talk About It https://www.commondreams.org/news/ocean-warming-study
• ABC News, 19 January 2024, Greenland ice sheet likely shrinking 20 per cent faster than previously thought, NASA says https://www.abc.net.au/news/2024-01-19/greenland-ice-sheet-shrinking-faster-than-thought-nasa/103363612
• Guardian, 24 October 2023, Rapid ice melt in west Antarctica now inevitable, research shows. Sea level will be driven up no matter how much carbon emissions are cut, putting coastal cities in danger. https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2023/oct/23/rapid-ice-melt-in-west-antarctica-now-inevitable-research-shows

Sea levels are rising, and damaging our coastal areas. 

• University of NSW, 18 January 2024, How rising sea levels will affect our coastal cities and towns https://www.unsw.edu.au/newsroom/news/2024/01/how-rising-sea-levels-will-affect-our-coastal-cities-and-towns
• Guardian, 23 February 2024, Natural disasters could cost NSW $9bn a year by 2060, analysis finds. …coastal hazards will dominate risk in future https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2024/feb/23/natural-disasters-could-cost-nsw-9bn-a-year-by-2060-analysis-finds
• Yale Climate Connections, 12 July 2023. How fast are the seas rising?  https://yaleclimateconnections.org/2023/07/how-fast-are-the-seas-rising/

WE ARE IN A CLIMATE EMERGENCY.

• Acknowledged by UN Environment Program (UNEP) https://www.unep.org/climate-emergency
• UN Secretary General, April 2022, https://press.un.org/en/2022/sgsm21228.doc.htm
• Over half the Municipal Councils in Victoria have declared a Climate Emergency. See Climate Emergency Declaration, 24 February 2024, Climate emergency declarations in 2,355 jurisdictions and local governments cover 1 billion citizens https://climateemergencydeclaration.org/climate-emergency-declarations-cover-15-million-citizens/

Energy Experts and Climate science says no new fossil fuel projects needed

Jillian Ambrose, Energy correspondent, 31 May 2024, The Guardian, No need for countries to issue new oil, gas or coal licences, study finds. Researchers say world has enough fossil fuel projects planned to meet demand forecasts to 2050 if net zero is reached.

The International Energy Agency, the United Nations and IPCC scientists all say that no new fossil fuel projects should proceed in order to reach net zero by 2050.

The International Energy Agency 2021 report, Net Zero by 2050 – A  Roadmap for the Global Energy Sector, makes it clear that no new fossil fuel development can be made if the world is to reach net zero by 2050.

Samantha Hepburn, Professor in the Deakin Law School, Deakin University wrote at The Conversation in 2022:

“Australia is heading in the wrong direction by opening up new fossil fuel exploration. The move will damage our longer-term security and undermine our climate imperatives. It ignores the glaring economic realities that will eventually push gas out of the market. And opening new gas fields while carbon-capture remains uncertain is dangerous for the planet.” – The Conversation, 25 August 2022

New coal gas development is incompatible with achieving the Paris Agreement target of limiting global warming 1.5. It will make climate change worse for all of us. (See references below)

The science on fossil fuel extraction and climate targets:

• Welsby, D., Price, J., Pye, S. et al. Unextractable fossil fuels in a 1.5 °C world. Nature 597, 230–234 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-021-03821-8, https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-021-03821-8
• Nogrady, Bianca, Nature, 8 September 2021, Most fossil-fuel reserves must remain untapped to hit 1.5 °C warming goal https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-021-02444-3
• Kelly Trout et al (17 May 2022), Existing fossil fuel extraction would warm the world beyond 1.5 °C , Environ. Res. Lett. 17 064010, DOI 10.1088/1748-9326/ac6228, https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.1088/1748-9326/ac6228
• F Green, O Bois von Kursk, G Muttitt, S Pye, (31 May 2024) – No new fossil fuel projects: The norm we need, Science, DOI: 10.1126/science.adn6533 (Accepted Manuscript)

In a 2023 report the International Energy Agency states:

“In a scenario that hits global net zero emissions by 2050, declines in demand are sufficiently steep that no new long lead-time conventional oil and gas projects are required. Some existing production would even need to be shut in.”

“In net zero transitions, new project developments face major commercial risks and could also lock in emissions that push the world over the 1.5 °C threshold. Producers need to explain how any new resource developments are viable within a global pathway to net zero emissions by 2050 and be transparent about how they plan to avoid pushing this goal out of reach.”

Our state and federal governments are still approving new gas, coal and oil projects.

• At least 10 coal and gas projects have been approved since Federal Labor came to power in May 2022 See Michael West Media, 8 Sep 2023, Ten and rising: Albanese government new fossil fuel approvals unveiled https://michaelwest.com.au/ten-and-rising-albanese-government-new-fossil-fuel-approvals-unveiled/
• Darwin Middle Arm Precinct a $1.5 billion Federal subsidy for Gas/LNG export. Climate Action Merribek, 23 June 2023, When is a $1.5 billion fossil fuel subsidy not a subsidy? When the Federal Minister says it is not (Sic). https://climateactionmerribek.org/2023/06/23/when-is-a-1-5-billion-fossil-fuel-subsidy-not-a-subsidy-when-the-federal-minister-says-it-is-not-sic/
• Oil and Gas exploration in Bass Strait: Climate Action Merribek, 16 September 2023, Whale Song not Seismic blasting Melbourne rally against offshore oil and gas exploration https://climateactionmerribek.org/2023/09/16/whale-song-not-seismic-blasting-melbourne-rally-against-offshore-oil-and-gas-exploration/
• Victoria: Climate Action Merribek, 23 December 2023, Minister questioned on Fossil Fuel coal and gas projects in Victoria https://climateactionmerribek.org/2023/12/22/minister-questioned-on-fossil-fuel-coal-and-gas-projects-in-victoria/
• Federal Climate Trigger? Climate Action Merribek, 8 February 2024, Climate Trigger not needed says Senate Committee majority report, despite public support https://climateactionmerribek.org/2024/02/08/climate-trigger-not-needed-says-senate-committee-majority-report-despite-public-support/
• Outrage Over New Coal Mines: A Climate Emergency Response, Climate Action Merribek, 25 September 2024, https://climateactionmerribek.org/2024/09/25/outrage-over-new-coal-mines-a-climate-emergency-response/
• Albanese Government delivers coal approvals for Christmas with 880 million tonnes of emissions, Climate Action Merribek, 19 December, 2024, https://climateactionmerribek.org/2024/12/19/albanese-government-delivers-coal-approvals-for-christmas-with-880-million-tonnes-of-emissions/
• Labor provisionally approves North West Shelf Gas Carbon Bomb, Climate Action Merribek, 29 May 2025, https://climateactionmerribek.org/2025/05/29/labor-provisionally-approves-north-west-shelf-gas-carbon-bomb/
• The full implications of Australia’s North West Shelf decision, 5 June 2025, Climate Analytics Briefing note.
  Calls the approval decision “an historic mistake and a denial of climate science.” Sets set out the full implications of this decision, from the enormous emissions that will pollute the atmosphere for thousands of years, their impacts on the ground, the ability of the government to meet its Paris Agreement commitments (and indeed its net zero ambitions), and counter some of the claims being made by the government around Australia’s need for gas, and the need of trading partners. https://climateanalytics.org/publications/the-full-implications-of-australias-north-west-shelf-decision

These will cause the planet to heat up even more. They are threatening our children’s future. Generations to come will suffer. 

• The International Energy Agency 2021 report, Net Zero by 2050 – A  Roadmap for the Global Energy Sector, makes it clear that no new fossil fuel development can be made if the world is to reach net zero by 2050. 
• Samantha Hepburn, Professor in the Deakin Law School, Deakin University wrote at The Conversation in 2022: “Australia is heading in the wrong direction by opening up new fossil fuel exploration. The move will damage our longer-term security and undermine our climate imperatives. It ignores the glaring economic realities that will eventually push gas out of the market. And opening new gas fields while carbon-capture remains uncertain is dangerous for the planet.” – The Conversation, 25 August 2022
• UNFCCC, 20 August 2021, One Billion Children at ‘Extremely High Risk’ of the Impacts of the Climate Crisis https://unfccc.int/news/one-billion-children-at-extremely-high-risk-of-the-impacts-of-the-climate-crisis
• Climate Analytics, 21 November, 2019, Global climate change impacts on children https://climateanalytics.org/publications/global-climate-change-impacts-on-children
• Australian Parents for Climate, 21 Feb 2024, Extreme heat costs families as schools become unsafe for kids https://www.parentsforclimate.org/extreme_heat_costs_families_as_schools_become_unsafe_for_kids
• Pearce, Joshua M., and Richard Parncutt. 2023. “Quantifying Global Greenhouse Gas Emissions in Human Deaths to Guide Energy Policy” Energies 16, no. 16: 6074. https://doi.org/10.3390/en16166074 https://www.mdpi.com/1996-1073/16/16/6074

Any government that supports these projects is not taking real action on climate change. They must stop approving these projects.