Kevin Rudd (Griffith, Australian Labor Party, Leader of the Opposition) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is to the Minister for the Environment and Water Resources and follows on from his answer to a previous question. I refer to a recent speech by the British Foreign Secretary on climate change where she said:

One study suggests that a sea-level rise of just 50 centimetres ... will displace two million people from the Nile Delta. A one metre rise will displace 25 million in Bangladesh.

Minister, what implications will a one-metre sea level rise have for Australia and for our neighbours in the South Pacific?

Malcolm Turnbull (Wentworth, Liberal Party, Minister for the Environment and Water Resources) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The rule of thumb with sea level rises, and this is very much a general rule of thumb—it is based on Dutch work; they know quite a bit about sea level rises, as you can imagine, Mr Speaker—is that sandy beaches can retreat 50 or even 100 times as much as the sea level rise due to erosion. So if the sea level rises as estimated in the fourth assessment report, the degree of erosion on sandy beaches in Australia—absent any other engineering action: groynes, artificial reefs or anything like that—could be somewhere between nine and 50 metres. That plainly has consequences for communities that are built on low-lying sandy soil. Obviously, portions of south-east Queensland and Cairns have been identified as being at risk.

The measures that will be deployed if or when those sea rises become apparent vary enormously from place to place. As the Leader of the Opposition would know from his very careful study of the fourth assessment report, the sea level rise is not even forecast in the fourth assessment report to be uniform around the world. In fact, there are some parts of the world where the sea level may actually fall. So it is a very variable proposition. And, of course, the land can change too. If you get more precipitation, you get more sediments being washed down, and that can offset or even exceed the rise in sea level.

That is the context in terms of Australia. Globally, of course, it is an enormous problem. It is particularly problematic in places like China, Egypt and Bangladesh, where there are large cities and populations that are built in river deltas on sediments which have a tendency to sink anyway. They will be particularly prejudiced, and the dangers are enormous. We are all familiar with New Orleans, which is a city that is largely below sea level. Jakarta, which has recently been flooded, is 40 per cent below sea level.

It is plainly a big issue globally but, in Australia, it is something that everybody, every level of government, is well aware of. The Australian government is well aware of this issue. We are working closely with the states and local government through our scientific agencies to make sure that we have the science and that we take the practical measures—not the panic, scare slogans—to deal with the consequences of a further rise in sea level. I repeat: in the last century, we experienced a 20 centimetre rise in sea level. Rises in sea level are not new. We have adapted to them in the past and we will adapt to them in the future.

Ken Ticehurst (Dobell, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is addressed to the Minister for the Environment and Water Resources. Would the minister advise the House of the global importance of clean coal technology in reducing greenhouse gas emissions, especially in rapidly developing economies such as China?

Malcolm Turnbull (Wentworth, Liberal Party, Minister for the Environment and Water Resources) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I thank the member for Dobell for his question. China is the world’s second largest emitter of greenhouse gases. Only a few years ago it was forecast to overtake the United States by 2020. China’s growth has been so rapid that it is expected to overtake the United States by 2010 or even 2009. So it is growing extraordinarily quickly in terms of its greenhouse gas emissions. That is because China is heavily dependent on coal. It consumes more coal than Australia does. In 2005 we consumed about 124 million tonnes of coal; the Chinese consumed over 2,200 million tonnes of coal. So our coal consumption represents a little over five per cent of China’s consumption. China is commissioning the equivalent of a 1,000 megawatt coal-fired power station every five days. Its additional growth in emissions equals Australia’s annual total every eight months. That gives an idea of the scale of the problem.

Only this morning, both in the press and on the radio, Mr Qin Dahe, the Chinese scientist who was co-chair of the United Nations scientific panel that produced the fourth assessment report, stressed China’s dependence on coal. He said that it was 69 per cent dependent on coal for its energy needs and that that would continue. He also stressed the need for technology solutions to clean up its coal.

Australia is leading the world in clean coal technology—be it through the Low Emissions Technology Development Fund, where over $200 million of projects that are relevant to clean coal technology have been announced; through the AP6; or through the Australia-China Joint Coordination Group on Clean Coal Technology, which the Prime Minister announced in January. Across a wide range of programs, Australia is, and has been for many years, working actively to develop clean coal technology—practical measures, demonstration projects, scientific research.

This is often correctly presented as being in our national interest as a great coal-exporting nation—it is a vital part of protecting our coal industry, as the head of the CFMEU said only this morning—but it is also in the world’s interest. We recognise that, no matter how much we reduce our greenhouse gas emissions, the critical reductions have to take place in the countries that are the largest emitters. China is saying today—as it has said again and again—that, in order to reduce its greenhouse gas emissions, it needs affordable technologies that enable it to clean up its coal. Australia is working to provide that technology. It may be that, in the years ahead, the greatest contribution we will make to the reduction of greenhouse gases is giving the Chinese, the Indians and the other coal dependent countries of the world the means to clean up their coal-fired power stations and deliver their people the energy they need, but in a manner which does not exacerbate greenhouse gas emissions and climate change.