Forests can easily be destroyed by fire, disease, floods and droughts, all of which are increasing with climate change.Ĭarbon is continually exchanged between the land and the atmosphere on timescales of seconds, days, decades and centuries, whereas fossil carbon has been locked away from the atmosphere for millions of years. To compound the problem, much of the carbon stored in land-based offsets does not stay stored. Instead, the introduced fossil carbon remains part of the active carbon cycle. Planting trees does not lock carbon away again deep underground. This is very clearly altering the balance of carbon in the Earth system and faster than ever recorded in the Earth’s geological history. When we burn fossil fuels, we release carbon locked away for millions of years (hence “fossil” fuels), pumping vast new volumes of carbon into the active carbon cycle. Together these processes make up the earth’s “active” carbon cycle. Carbon is also being continually exchanged between the atmosphere and the ocean’s surface. It is constantly being cycled through these different parts. ShutterstockĬarbon is everywhere on Earth - in the atmosphere, the ocean, in soils, in all living things, and in rocks and sediments. The only long term storage solution for fossil fuels like coal is to leave them precisely where they are. In fact, unlimited use of offsets could see even more emissions, if coal and gas companies “offset” emissions and ramp up exports. Avoiding the worst of climate change means stopping the extraction and burning of fossil fuels. But when trees take carbon dioxide back out of the atmosphere, they may only store it for a short period. The carbon in coal, gas and oil has been safely stored underground for extraordinary lengths of time. One tonne of carbon dioxide pumped into the atmosphere by burning fossil fuels is not the same as one tonne of carbon stored in the tree trunks of a newly planted forest. But there’s an even more fundamental problem. You’ve probably heard about Australia’s rubbery offset schemes and questions of integrity. Incredibly, there would be no limit on the number of offsets companies can use. Instead, companies can choose to buy carbon credits or offsets to meet their obligations. Under the government’s proposed rules, there is still no requirement for polluters to actually cut their emissions at the sites where they are released into the atmosphere. Done right, it could set our biggest industrial polluters on a pathway to cut their emissions and be a springboard for more ambitious changes.īut there’s one glaring problem. But it could generate momentum after a wasted decade of climate denial and delay under the previous government. This week, the Albanese government is attempting to reform the safeguard mechanism to try to make it actually cut emissions from our highest polluting industrial facilities.Įxperts and commentators see Labor’s plan as a cautious, incremental change that doesn’t yet rise to the urgency of the intensifying climate crisis.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |