Mark Ogge of The Australia Institute is calling for a National Climate Disaster Fund, to be funded by a levy on fossil fuel producers: “The frequency and intensity of natural disasters such as bushfires and floods will keep increasing while we keep pumping more greenhouse gases into the atmosphere. Australia urgently needs a dedicated, independently administered fund to cope with the ever increasing costs of these disasters. A $1 per tonne levy would have virtually no effect on energy prices or coal jobs, but would be a huge help to everyone being affected by the damage these activities are causing. This policy would help communities to prepare for and recover from natural disasters, but it would also be great for creating jobs and boosting the economy.” The TAI report notes the “an appropriate contribution from the companies making the single largest contribution of any activity in Australia to global warming… While Australia’s fossil fuel resources are owned by Australians, they are extracted and exported mostly by large global coal and oil and gas companies. These companies make virtually no contribution to paying the costs of increasing climate related disasters that are a direct consequence of the increasing concentration of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere.”
7 January 2020