How this country became a climate villain

Australia doesn't make sense. It's being scorched by fires and drowned by floods. It has the sun, wind, water, land, minerals and money to clean up its economy. But Australians are among the worst polluters in the world. So how did Australia become a climate villain - and is it starting to change?
Credits:
Reporter: Ajit Niranjan
Video Editor: Nils Reinecke
Supervising editor: Joanna Gottschalk, Kiyo Dörrer
We're destroying our environment at an alarming rate. But it doesn't need to be this way. Our new channel Planet A explores the shift towards an eco-friendly world - and challenges our ideas about what dealing with climate change means. We look at the big and the small: What we can do and how the system needs to change. Every Friday we'll take a truly global look at how to get us out of this mess.
#PlanetA #wildfires #australia
Read more:
climateactiontracker.org/coun...
ccpi.org/download/climate-cha...
www.sciencedirect.com/science...
wires.onlinelibrary.wiley.com...
joanstaples.files.wordpress.c...
grattan.edu.au/wp-content/upl...
www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/1...
cdn.getup.org.au/2790-Lies_De...
australiainstitute.org.au/wp-...
climateanalytics.org/media/wh...
Chapters
00:00 Introduction
00:46 Australia is a paradox
02:02 Why Australia pollutes so much
04:13 Fossil fuel lobbying
05:50 Partisan media
07:53 Jobs at risk?
09:54 New government
12:08 Conclusion

[@DWPlanetA]

Which country should we take a look at next?

[@Kevin-fq3zh]

India & pakistan of course… many skeletons in their closets

[@Petch85]

New Zealand

[@pavan4754]

@@Petch85 😂😂😂

[@ianlang9312]

Canada

[@jonathantan2469]

Germany. Despite over €600 billion spent on the Energiewende (renewable wind) over the past years and phasing out nuclear power, their average carbon emissions of electricity are still high (~500 grams of CO2 per kWh). In fact, this amount is roughly equal to the carbon emissions of electricity of 2 of Australia's most populated states...

[@AGCipher]

Can we just call lobbying what it really is? Corruption...

[@ahkoy973]

Legalised corruption and it's wrong

[@MP-ut6eb]

Tx. Words has much more impact then we think

[@jonatan_leandoer96]

​@@MP-ut6eb Hey I'm thaiboy digital from drain gang

[@_thunderbolt_2920]

Even worse, its legal corruption

[@MP-ut6eb]

@@jonatan_leandoer96 pardon?

[@toma6180]

Being an Australian, I must say this is an Extremely frustrating topic, many Australians do really want change! We have been protesting for change, but our government is much more focused on the profits from large coal TNCs than national interests, it's painful! So painful to watch my country do such little effort to change, aswell as accept evermore coal powerplants to be built. It's internationally embarrassing

[@ingofreehe2168]

Even if Australia would stop using or exporting fossil fuels etc. the rest of the world is still polluting enough for the floods and fires to continue. The only difference now is, that Australia will loose billions of dollars to fight them. It is simply too small to make a difference. I agree the domestic electricity should be based more on renewables. But don't stop selling your resources to other countries !

[@pradeepkharta5953]

Well I don't understand why Australians don't industrialized there country.

[@maazkalim]

“Australia”: The sovereign State conflated to be a continent in and of itself by number of folks at times.. ...Is “too small” than overwhelming-majority of _per capita_ climate antagonists, Mr "​@@ingofreehe2168"?.!?? Who are you, exactly? The anti-Mercator?

[@thejollygrimreaper]

@@pradeepkharta5953 a lot of us would like to see that but there are so many barriers in the way for us, we still have our government telling us to take our products to china while publicly screaming for manufacturing to come back, they won't lift a finger to help local businesses but foreign companies they bend over for , basic things like industrial units or warehouses are so overpriced they sit empty for years and even if you can afford one the things to have to do compliance wise depending on the industry you are in is a show stopping joke.

[@ronanonline3515]

​@@ingofreehe2168 such a weak excuse. 16th largest economy in the world is not exactly small! NZ says the same thing - equally inexcusable Nd they really are small. Why you just reduce your per capita emissions to the world average then?

[@stanleykubrick8786]

DW Planet A: Could you please do a feature on Canada as the second-largest polluter in the world? I'm from Canada and would appreciate more visibility about our wasteful hypocrisy; the challenge is that it's not likely to come from any Canadian sources, we need courageous outsiders to do that.

[@AuJohnM]

CO2 ain't pollution. It's as esential as water for life on this planet. Without it you'd have almost nothing to eat, not that that would be a big problem because you wouldn't be able to breathe (because Co2 regulates breathing).

[@BatCaveOz]

"Courageous outsiders" LOL Legit question - Did your Mommy have to safety pin your mittens to your sleeves so you wouldn't lose them?

[@asoka7752]

oh they won't as long as Canada follows the agenda of their liberal masters.

[@carolines.6517]

Canadian here and I agree! Please cover canada and our hypocritical liberal leader JT cause the rest of the world thinks we’re so good and he’s like a god

[@rutvikrs]

Saving you a 15 minutes, Mining and oil, heating on cities and industrial complex.

[@thomasbitsch5488]

Since Denmark was nr. 1 on the climate list you showed us that would be very interesting to hear why they're the most ambitious.

[@DWPlanetA]

Hi Thomas, thanks for your question. We visited an island in Denmark to take a look at some of these practices. You can watch this video here kzbin.info/www/bejne/kHmTXoSBqMicoZo. Please let us know what you think in the comments. 🌸

[@thebloody0076]

Denmark has also some of the highest energy costs in the world and is crazy expensive to live. For the sake of the climate religion? NO, thank you

[@thomasbitsch5488]

@@thebloody0076 That’s true, but since my country is expensive to live that also means we have no poor people, no one is hungry, and our school system is one of the greatest in the world - just behind if not on the same level as Sweden and Finland.

[@thomasbitsch5488]

@@thebloody0076 the salaries also compensates for the expensive living.

[@muysli.y1855]

​​@@thebloody0076 From someone who live boarder to Denmark living there was always expansiv same in Switerzland, the reason why both come to Germany for Shopping 😄

[@thecrazygainerguy]

Also need to point some of our other major news sources are also pretty conservative and also down play the role of ckimate change. People in Australia dont understand how low our media freedom actually is. There are very limited protections for whistleblowers and federal publicnservants arent allowed to express political opinions on their own social media. In 2019 our democracy was considered narrowed and there has been some much stronger anti protester legislation going through at state level too. There are some very concerning things going on in Australia if you really look at it.

[@blaxxalotl2943]

i think most people understand that our media is limited i just believe no one cares enough to change it.

[@maazkalim]

Well.. As they say.. So as long as you toil for the Superpower by imitating them as much as you can, you would remain in jolly company with the jolly good elites' club.

[@diggs6247]

Australia already has statutes on the books which will allow a complete dictatorial take-over of government to happen overnight. All that is needed for enactment is the right set of circumstances, which could very probably be economic breakdown and resulting civil unrest. Approximately 75% of the population is in favour of taking the steps necessary to tackle global warming, but Australia is seriously lagging in its response. Fossil fuel industries simply buy politicians, and as the climate situation worsens, the owners will tell the politicians when to jump and how high.The typical Australian has no idea of how tenuous the illusion of democracy is. Apathy and ignorance have been fostered for many years by a political and media stranglehold on the minds of many.

[@margaretarmstrong2445]

​@@diggs6247 You are so wrong! Where do you get your 75% from? What do you know about the cradle to grave story of the 'green' industry? Wind and solar have been rolling out in Australia for more than a decade now. I have the misfortune of living in a Renewable Energy Zone and what is happening out here in the regions is devastating. You are oblivious to what is going on because you aren't confronted by it. Wake up and do some research.

[@bruceb7464]

One of the main issues, as pointed out in the video, is the anonymous funds coming being donated to the main political parties - Labor, Liberals/Nationals. It is outrageous that the Australian public is not told who is providing these donations. Even though we are not told it is highly likely that a significant proportion of this is from the fossil fuel industry. No industry would give away money unless they were certain of a very good return - which it seems they are getting.

[@adrianthoroughgood1191]

Australia has got rid of first past the post which is a vital step towards real democracy. The other vital thing is preventing rich people from buying politicians, which they are doing badly on. Company donations should be banned and personal donations should be capped to a modest amount per year per person so ordinary people have an equal say to rich people in politics.

[@JusticeAlways]

In the US it's called "Citizens United". That has ruined our political situation.

[@marshalepage5330]

Calling the people doing this the fossil fuel industry instead of by their real names guarantees no accountability. They are people not an industry.

[@grahamstevenson1740]

Giving funds to political parties ought to be totally out in the open, so you know who's bought your politicians.

[@ditodidiadikta]

Australian from Canberra here laughing and crying at the same time to this paradoxical reality of ours

[@phuocluong7974]

I’m Australia as well but the general Australian public is not fault-free in our dependence on fossil fuels. People have been protesting against nuclear power since the 1950s which would’ve massively reduced our emissions much like America and Europe. And also as much as we don’t like to admit it, much of our social subsidies are a beneficiary of the mining industry. It’s basically the whole reason why our public debt hasn’t exploded. And our economy is much more reliant on the mining industry than people think. And we don’t have much competitive advantage in other sectors considering that we are tiny in population in the Asia Pacific zone.

[@SaveMoneySavethePlanet]

8:06 I hear the “it’ll cost jobs” argument in America all the time too. In reality, we can easily setup programs to retrain people from one rigorous job like coal mining into a new rigorous job like installing solar. That’s not the problem. The problem is that it’ll lower the revenue of the mining company while raising the revenue of the solar company and the dear old lobbyists just can’t have that now can they?!

[@rchltrrs]

Yes! This frustrates me so much! There are ways to offset the jobs that would be lost. Also, this is a normal thing. Industries rise and fall. No one was asking the government to block Netflix because it was going to cost Blockbuster employees their jobs. Manufacturers are allowed to automate even if that costs jobs in their plants. We only magically care when it's jobs connected to deep pockets.

[@SaveMoneySavethePlanet]

@@rchltrrs I love the Netflix/Blockbuster analogy. You’re bang on! I may have to steal that for a future video haha! I spoke to this stuff briefly in my UBI video but I feel like a video dedicated to finding the energy transition could be a good idea.

[@adtastic1533]

That's a load of nonsense. Renewables don't require the same amount of labour and they don't pay as well. Especially if you are retraining from an experienced position to an entry level one.

[@rchltrrs]

@adtastic1533 yeah, a whole coal mining town can't all start installing solar panels and make a living but does it make sense to prop up a harmful industry forever? This happens, industries die. When armies stopped using metal plate and chainmail armor blacksmiths lost their jobs. Most cassette tape manufacturers probably don't exist anymore. At some point new inventions come along and the cost/benefit analysis of sticking to the old ways doesn't make sense anymore. I think the government needs to step in to help the most heavily affected communities through the transition but I still firmly believe that it needs to happen

[@Admiral-General_Aladeen]

They literally have almost unlimited space for solar and wind they could employ half the country just building and maintaining these additionally they have some of the biggest urainium deposits for nuclear if the wind isn't blowing or at night Australia is almost an ideal country for renewable energy

[@blessingndlovu9037]

Very interesting. Here in South Africa Australia is usually used as an ideal example of how we should transition from fossil fuels. Videos like this expose the half truths we are fed by those people who have Australia on a high pedestal.

[@guringai]

At least the current federal Labor government is making a half arsed attempt to transition, which is a huge improvement from the last conservative gov't. Economic benefits of renewable energy are likely to shift things more rapidly than govt policy now.

[@rexxx777]

This is the mass media. Don't be so trusting about what you see. The last three years should have taught you that.

[@paulfri1569]

The video is a hit job on Australia.. Remember Russia has been funding these green movements for a reason and that is so you have to depend on them once the competition is taken out..

[@guringai]

@@paulfri1569 . What utter garbage you say. Green movements have zero alignment with Putin's regime. However I'd be interested in what you think is an example...

[@Commander_ZiN]

​@@paulfri1569 what the heck are you on about? As an Australian I can tell you this is pretty accurate. However I don't know if I'd call the land stolen, but that's a bit of perspective and in some cases I'd agree. Labor is centre right not centre left. Our media has been controlled by Rupert Murdoch far more than they mentioned in this vid. 75% - 95% of all news media is controlled or influenced by Murdoch. It's been like this for over 30 years. We've been trying to fight climate change for a long time but our governments have been ignoring us. When PM Kevin Rudd implemented a carbon tax, Murdoch dragged him through the dirt in the papers and got him ousted and replaced by Gillard. Same with the Liberal PM that was ousted in the video, both times only possible due to Murdoch. Both ex-PM's and Australians have been trying to fight Murdoch, but the current government denied a royal commission into the diversity in news media. This is all stuff you can look up and easily confirm. Your Russia conspiracy theory has no basis, why does going green have anything to do with Russia? Going green would mean less reliance on fossil fuels in the first place, less reliance on Russia. Your statement not only has no facts to back it up, but is contradictory on the face of it. Rupert Mudoch is the most influencing factor, I wouldn't be surprised if he has ties to Russian Oligarchs, but he's pro coal as he has a lot of money invested in fossil fuels. It shouldn't be Australia that gets the blame for this, it should be Rupert Murdoch and the Liberal party!

[@MrLordSandwich]

As an Aussie from Tasmania, thank you. This is the best video I've seen on this issue to date. When you mentioned Murderous Murdoch my blood boiled! He has done more harm then good for our country and the world.

[@Matto_Harvo]

Any Aussie that wants to get rid of fossil fuel usage should stop using anything that comes from fossil fuels. Oh, and I reckon that you’ve never tried to look at what comes from fossil fuels; much of the stuff we use comes from “fossil fuels” but has nothing to do with energy. Try it. But first determined e where hydrocarbons are used. Then get rid of the:. I KNOW that you won’t; can’t.

[@bruceb7464]

@@Matto_Harvo This is such a poor argument. You can't put the blame and responsibility for, and the requirement to fix the problem, onto the individual. Systemic change is required. This can only be achieved by Government taking the lead, making regulations and laws and mandating and implementing changes to infrastructure away from fossil fuel use.

[@Matto_Harvo]

@@bruceb7464 You’re right, if every individual in the world did the correct thing, the globe would still be stuffed. Own it! Fix your backyard in the way you want it; then stick your nose over the fence. Otherwise you’re a whinging hypocrit that lives in the luxury of hydrocarbon modernity while Pooh poohing it at the same time. Hypocrisy! Horrible!

[@albundy9222]

@@Matto_Harvo Murdoch fed you quite well.

[@AussieZeKieL]

@@Matto_Harvo I live in Australia. We have more roof top solar per capita than any other country. I fill my car up once a month and all my electrical energy comes from hydro-electic. Also my property is full of trees... probably doing much better than you...

[@michaelfabish-wood4444]

As an Aussie. Completely agree. We have the means and the resources to make the swap, very quickly. But the same level of corruption exists due to the wealth of our major exporters. The sun shines everywhere here, the solar is cheaper than coal now and we have all the space in the world. It’s also true that majority of Australia want the change. Meaning democracy has failed us yet again.

[@After_Pasta]

The public actually wants more climate action but the government basically ignores them

[@0michelleki020]

The forest fires can easily be explained it's often always because of bad forrest manegement. The "extreme" heat is because of the Milankovitch Cycle (Earths orbit around the sun). Because of the Milankovitch Cycle Australia receives 7% more sun exposure when its summer in Australia, and 7% less sun exposure when it's winter in Australia. On the Northern hemisphere it's the other way around, with 7% more less sun exposure when its summer, and 7% higher sun exposure when it's winter. There's so much more to our climate than human made CO2.

[@crylicakress8380]

Thank you so much for covering this DW! As a young Australian it's been extremely frustrating to witness the corruption and revolving door between the fossil fuel industry and government. Even when you vote for the party with the most effective climate policies, it's not enough to change the tide. Most Australians want change but are plagued by misinformation from the Murdoch press. The general public lack the information about the effective climate policies, such as Australian Institute's research. It's difficult to convince my parents and peers how much this matters for our shared future.

[@aaronfield7899]

Us Americans are suffering from corruption in our government by the fossil fuel industry at least 10 times more than you.

[@gerryhouska2859]

As an old Australian, I agree 100%. Unfortunately the party with the most effective policies (the Greens) gets barely 15% of the vote and in our duopoly system the competition is between centre right neocon Labor and far right neocon LNP+ coalition.

[@-opus]

I wish you were correct about most Australians wanting change, in my opinion most Australians are either climate deniers, or just completely apathetic consumerists.

[@Matto_Harvo]

“Most” Australians that want change do not understand the immediate ramifications. Immediate ramifications that can be easily understood are ignored for long term ramifications that are poorly understood. A huge land like Australia with electric transport: seriously think through that issue. I love the way the video says how Australia has minerals etc that are vital to a clean future: How do these resources become clean energy sources?

[@aaronfield7899]

@@Matto_Harvo look, nobody is saying that mining for lithium batteries is environmentally friendly, but ANYTHING is better than coal!

[@sebastiangruenfeld141]

>be Australia >own 25% of worlds Uranium >half the continent is barren desert perfect for wind parks and solar farms >have practically "limitless" clean energy at your disposal >don't develop any of it Why are Aussies like that?

[@adityasinghjadoun6675]

why are u using writing format of a mongolian basket weaving forum on youtube

[@Admiral-General_Aladeen]

Don't forget >has already some of the hottest weather >regularly effected by wildfires >will be one of the worst effected by climate change

[@spacefacts1681]

well for one our Greens party successfully got nuclear power banned in 1999 and they've lied about the pros and cons of it whenever they get the chance

[@shitzuation]

Same reason as always.. 💰💰💰🤑🤑🤑💰💰💰

[@Ritzer168]

Simple answer is lobbying from coal and gas corporations that run the Powerstation and mines/fracking. The slightest hint of reform and the Federal government is sicked on. There is changes happening at a state level but federally is where the challenges lie. Not to mention we had the Coalition in for 9 years.

[@mrlorikeetmp3]

Thank you DW. As an Australian who lived through the recent 2022 northern rivers floods, I just thank you for putting this out.

[@raclark2730]

You know we always have floods especially in La nina cycles. There is no proof its climate change.

[@DAda-nv7ro]

You might want to look up the Tongan underwater volcanic eruptions in early January 2022 for the cause of those floods

[@Matto_Harvo]

@@DAda-nv7ro No. The science says it’s global warming, I mean climate change, due to humans, and very specifically, carbon produced by humans. The science. This could be sarcasm on my part.

[@raclark2730]

@@DAda-nv7ro Yep still having an effect and will for a long time yet.

[@Melanie____]

@mrlorikeet Absolutely

[@formosanbusinesssupportco.5343]

Please do a video on Taiwan where the government since 2016 tries hard to transition to 20% renewable by 2025, but only keeps declining and fossils rising.

[@ebbeb9827]

they should urgently transition just from an energy security point of view. What if China one day decides to blockade the island and they cant import oil and gas?

[@Amaling]

yeah it's strange. Meanwhile hong kong has done quite well for itself in this regard

[@woo-see]

@@Amaling Hong Kong has only one wind turbine, not one wind farm, and household solar panels. There is very little renewable energy production

[@Kelvin555s]

So true. Not long ago we even had a prime minister and a party in power didn't care about climate change despite having a record bush fire. It's all about money and mine lobby groups that major parties care. Nothing going to change as long as the core voters does not change. I am hopeful as young generation gets into voting age and open for alternatives.

[@thehoundGOT]

Please do New Zealand next, we topped one the charts in this video of emissions per capita

[@TheMntnG]

because of cars

[@thehoundGOT]

@@TheMntnG I think you mean cows

[@TheMntnG]

@@thehoundGOT both

[@user-xu3cz7vp2j]

@@TheMntnG I agree, we are tied with the USA among the most car-dependent country. Almost everyone here drives their giant SUV to work and back!

[@paulsz6194]

Does that include all the cows & sheep, which you use to export as meat, buttter & wool? Don’t forget their contributions? 🐑 🐮

[@lawrenceheyman435]

Mostly accurate. The new government's plans are a start, helping to prove that renewables won't kill the economy. They need two terms in government to make the changes irreversible. Also, South Australia (another state) is now 70% renewables in their electricity grid and climbing and without hydro

[@toozy101]

It'll send us broke, while China increases their emissions.

[@lawrenceheyman435]

@TOOZY send us broke? If you feel that way, why don't you build a coal-fired power station? Why did the last federal government of fiscal conservatives spend taxpayer money to build a new gas-fired plant? - most likely they couldn't get it built by a private group, because people don't want to lose money on it

[@alyssaoconnor]

Tasmania does its share too, it was the third carbon negative place in the world. SA, Tas and NT are all doing their best to preserve our environment and follow regulations but the other states could definitely do a lot better, WA especially.

[@lawrenceheyman435]

@@alyssaoconnor I think Qld is most behind, but both WA and Qld have made encouraging sounds of change. Strange as they have more potential than anyone.

[@DwainDwight]

as an Australian it completely sickens me just how bad Australia is with regards to saving & conserving the environment. Largely due to mass corruption and ultra poor leadership by successive Australian governments. truly shocking, and depressing

[@gregorymalchuk272]

Your anti scientific ban on nuclear energy is what sickens me.

[@margaretarmstrong2445]

Shocking and depressing, seriously? You have no idea how wind, solar and backup batteries are made do you? Or the impact that their existence has on humanity and the global environment? I'm guessing that you think it's OK for 40,000 African children to work in the artisanal cobalt and copper mines in the Congo. And that it isn't unusual for these hand dug mines to collapse and crush these individuals, including children to death. What about those refugees from other parts of Africa who come to make the big money of a few dollars a day. When their children lose their parents to mining incidents or violence there's no family backup to look after these children, no social services. They will do anything they have to do to make enough money to survive. These children suffer unspeakable atrocities, girls not much more than children themselves collecting ore with babies strapped to their backs. Still it's worth it isn't it? We get cheap renewables. Same applies to the minority groups in China. Doesn't matter that they are separated from their families and forced into labour camps with barely enough sustenance to keep them alive. Keeps down the cost of renewables. Many of the necessary materials mined for the renewables industry result in highly toxic waste by-products. Rare earth processing is one of the worst. These materials are not so much rare as difficult to separated out from the ores. There are many different types of acids and other chemicals used in this process and the resulting waste has varying levels of radiation and is problematic to dispose of. Just one of these processing plants in China has a black toxic sludgy lake which was reported to be ten square kilometres in size. This area was once farmland, they just keep adding sandbags as the depth increases. There are so many more steps in the creation of renewables that creates toxic waste but it would take a few pages to describe them to you and I wouldn't want to depress you. I live in a Renewable Energy Zone here in Australia. Wind, solar, backup batteries, substations and new transmission lines will utilise more than 2 hundred square kilometres of agricultural land just near my beautiful historic town alone. The native wildlife and birds that drew us here will be driven out or destroyed. There have been 19 endangered species of native birds identified in our region, plus bats and Koalas. All the developers have to do is purchase certificates and they will be absolved of any responsibility for the loss of these creatures. They want to install 69 wind turbines in our beautiful valley. These turbines will be 7MW and standing at 280m high and 200m wide will be the biggest onshore turbines in the world and almost as tall as Centrepoint Tower whichis the tallest structure in Sydney. They will each sport 3 red flashing aviation lights. I wonder how the flocks of parrots will fare in their attempt to fly in familiar territory. Corellas, Cockatoos, Galahs, Rosellas and Red Rumped Parrots to name a few. The are Wedge Tailed Eagles soaring through this valley and hovering in the very places these towers will spin. Nankeen Kestrels, waterbirds and too many other varieties to name, and many of them endangered. But then you'll no doubt tell me that cats kill way many more birds, so I guess I need to just get over it. Shocked and depressed are we petal? You need to get over yourself and take the time to find out what the reality of renewables are. I've only given you part of the story. What are you giving up for your ideological dream? What will happen to this infrastructure in less than twenty years time for most of it? It won't be buried near your place will it, and you won't need to be concerned if it isn't removed at all.

[@micled93]

I'm thankful that others are recognising our struggle with the government here. They don't listen. Everyone in my town that faced the floods in Queensland openly talk about this issue.

[@astra6712]

It’s called the weather. La Niña has returned to the East Pacific.

[@bradj6985]

Australian homes all dutifully set up solar panels on our roofs at great expense to save the world. I spent $24000 on my panels. Two years later and there is a glut of solar power on the market. In a desperate move to stay viable, the energy companies cut the solar input rates to nearly nothing, actually switch off solar panels and are lobbying to charge us an input tariff to tax the solar power we import to the grid. Joyfully ejaculating that the Aussies have enough sunlight to solve all of our problems is just another stark indicator that the foreign journalists who put this video together either have no firsthand knowledge of our circumstances or know full well but wish to distort the image to portray Aussies as evil climate monsters.

[@rexxx777]

Don't treat this video seriously that's all.

[@bradj6985]

@@rexxx777 as an Aussie, I don’t want to be stereotyped as a climate vandal by journalists who clearly don’t know what they’re talking about….

[@awf6554]

Good report. The most significant factors are a (previous) federal coalition government owned by the minerals industry and the Murdoch media. Although 70% or so of Australians want action on climate change, federal elections are won on small margins of a couple of percentages. Murdoch and the coalition have done just enough to muddy the political scene with non-climate issues to retain power. Until the last election that is. In the meantime, all Australian state governments have been taking action on climate change.

[@AuJohnM]

Do you have even a shred of evidence to support your claims? If not, then why did you make them?

[@awf6554]

​@@AuJohnM Of course. The info is there for anyone who can use a search engine.

[@asthmatictuna]

@@AuJohnM uh did you watch the video? it said exactly this.

[@olivernorth-coombes4720]

It is crucial for a democracy to have media with different thinking and news. News corp provides conservative views.

[@olivernorth-coombes4720]

This article is full of misinformation and disinformation.

[@thejiseokkim]

You should look into South Korea as well. It is still building coal power plants even though it continues get battered by climate disasters. It’s Posco steelmill, responsible for 5 percent of national emissions was flooded last year and couldn’t be operated at full capacity for months.

[@edwardfletcher7790]

South Korea has a MASSIVE problem with religious Cults controlling political parties !

[@VARMOT123]

And you import that coal as well right ?.

[@gregorymalchuk272]

Energy is what insulates Koreans from a naturally hostile climate.

[@iangray7904]

I’m so glad China and Indian are on board with all this

[@piratepete4322]

This mob will miss the irony.😂

[@definitlynotbenlente7671]

China has one of the largest hydro electric dams in the world

[@VARMOT123]

If india emitted per capita like australia has done, there wouldn't have been any planet left a century ago

[@broadcase21]

Totally correct. The media and powerful lobbyist into the politics are the plague here in Australia.

[@biggiedii4889]

This sounds eerily similar to Canada.

[@carlramirez6339]

Remember that we voted fair and square to vote against a carbon tax. It shows how hard it is for me to convince fellow Australians to shoulder the cost of climate action.

[@diggs6247]

A campaign of lies and scaremongering worked a treat with that idea, and it worked because most Australians are simply not interested in the future of their own children. The recent change of government was very likely driven by hard realities such as fires, floods, and plainly visible damage. It was also influenced by the most openly and cynically corrupt government Australia has ever had. To just lift the lid on corruption slightly, look into ROBODEBT. Consumers of the garbage put out by the Murdoch media had no idea of what was really happening, and still don't. Eventually enough of the rest of the population became worried about events and the stench of corruption to vote out the Morrison government.

[@gregorymalchuk272]

Good. Why would anyone vote for an increase in the price of energy, which would increase the cost of everything? Especially when nuclear isn't being permitted as an alternative.

[@skygge1006]

@@gregorymalchuk272 nuclear is more expensive than solar and wind. If you want cheap bills solar and wind are the cheapest not nuclear so clearly it’s not pric you care about.

[@gregorymalchuk272]

@@skygge1006 Variable renewables plus storage are more expensive than nuclear energy.

[@margaretarmstrong2445]

​@@skygge1006 Wind and Solar have been pushed hard in the Northern Hemisphere for more than two decades. Not one country has successfully transitioned to wind and solar after all this time and the countries like Germany and the UK and states like SA and California have among the highest electricity prices in the world. They need international interconnectors to top up shortfalls and they purchase oil and gas from other countries. This is after spending trillions of dollars collectively on wind, solar and backup batteries. How is that cheap or reliable? You can talk about renewables being the cheapest form of energy all you like but it doesn't make it true. Renewables are intermittent and their output is very poor. Without backup you have no energy system. The backup must be included in the cost of the supply to the grid. Towns, cities, transport and industry cannot run on wind and solar alone.

[@DanielBrasher]

It’s validating hearing an international news source call out the Australian Government for its lack of initiative to address climate change.

[@marktaylor3802]

While the green lie continues we will pretend batteries are going to run the world and that they are green in some way, until we grip reality that nothing made by man can ever be green, so really we can only look at what is least intrusive and that is obviously nuclear power as it is the only reliable 24/7 source that can handle big loads and big load changes. Everything has a footprint therefore solar, wind and batteries are very far from ever being able to be called green. If we all went vegan we would need all treed/green areas for crop space, no more bush/rainforests or animals! We all drive EV cars with a huge carbon footprint before ever driven and hope to balance it out over the life of the mined battery but save nothing on global emmisions in reality because the global freight trains/ships/planes and travel trains/ships/planes do the big emitting not to mention those EVs are being charged off coal a lot of the time. This perfect world some are looking for is not in the direction they are going.

[@ilikevines]

Climate change is just a shaming campaign to force western countries to make their economies less competitive and transfer money to undeveloped countries. The majority of member countries in the UN are resentful and backwards and want to shake down wealthier countries for all they can get.

[@johnm838]

Only a fool would waste money addressing a non-problem.

[@rhyshackett8268]

Also you should note that coal isn't just used for obsolete coal fired power plants..it's also used in the production of steel and other metals.

[@margaretarmstrong2445]

It's also an 'ingredient' in the manufacture of silicon ingots for crystalline silicon solar panels. China makes billions of them using coal-fired power plants and furnaces.

[@R1981L]

I'm not a climate change denier but Australia has always and always will have disastrous floods and bushfires, simple fact

[@axle.australian.patriot]

As an Australian I fully reject all of the claims in this video. I only made it as far as 1:27 and was insulted by the lack of basic truths.

[@rexxx777]

Did you expect any different?

[@Vanessa-qj5hj]

I also felt insulted. Just because Australia is blessed with resources and a small population that other countries are jealous.

[@axle.australian.patriot]

@@billedifier8584 Thank you, I missed that :)

[@UndulatingOlive]

Here in Aus, we need more outside pressure, financial pressure to push the necessity of climate action into the mind of our political class

[@paulsz6194]

Are you living off grid already?

[@ingofreehe2168]

Even if Australia would stop using or exporting fossil fuels etc. the rest of the world is still polluting enough for the floods and fires to continue. The only difference now is, that Australia will loose billions of dollars to fight them. It is simply too small to make a difference. I agree the domestic electricity should be based more on renewables. But don't stop selling your resources to other countries !

[@toozy101]

No we don't, we need to look after Australians first.

[@DeftPol]

The other issue that isn’t really addressed is that Australia’s small population size makes even some people that are supportive of action on climate change think that government climate policies are ultimately irrelevant. The thinking goes that Australia may have high per capita emissions, but when your country has less than one 50th the population of our mega energy consuming economies to the north and around one 15th the population of the US, in absolute terms our emissions and actions amount to a drop in the bucket.

[@mukkaar]

Honestly it's weird point, since population is small, it's easier to implement changes.

[@redsword1659]

See Jones-Credlin presentation of the "grain of rice" fallacy

[@DeftPol]

@@mukkaar it isn’t when any action proposed gets framed in terms of economic cost that will have to be born by regular people and then the opponents point to the absolute contributions to pollution of countries like China and the US to say that our actions won’t have any impact.

[@YRG313]

"I love a sunburnt country, A land of sweeping plains, Of ragged mountain ranges, Of droughts and flooding rains. I love her far horizons, I love her jewel-sea, Her beauty and her terror - The wide brown land for me!" Dorothea Mackellar - 1908

[@SocialDownclimber]

This poem is about what we have to lose from climate change if we don't take stronger action now. We will lose our jewel-sea to warming oceans, our plains to flooding and our wide brown land will be burnt ash black. Australians will survive, but the lands Dorothea loved will be damaged beyond restoration for hundreds of years.

[@margaretarmstrong2445]

​@@SocialDownclimber What absolute rubbish.

[@Tasmantor]

@@margaretarmstrong2445 The droughts and floods will increase (even more) in severity her jewel-sea is bleaching at a rate unprecedented in history but if it all looks good from your perspective of 'head as far as possible up arse' then I guess it's all right!

[@kemalfaza1549]

Problem is, It is very expensive in terms of labour cost and material cost. Plus the vast area of the country make it even harder to distribute electricity.

[@jdillon8360]

Most of the population is spread along the south-east and east coast, with a few million in and around Perth as well. The vast size of Australia isn't as big a factor as people like to claim, considering the population is mostly concentrated along those 2 coastal strips. What's holding back distribution is NIMBY land owners that don't want new transmission running across their land. This is causes higher electricity prices for everyone (including those same landowners who oppose the new lines), and is delaying the connection of new renewable energy sources to the grid. You're right about high labour costs however.

[@-cheshire-cat]

You wonder what kind of society we're creating when big businesses can sway the government and create billion dollar marketing campaigns to sway average people too, then disregard the environment all in the name of profit. Let's hope one day this will be fixed or massive pollution/shortages/droughts/fires/floods will be the new normal for a lot of countries.

[@jaydenwilson9522]

its not big business, its physics, name me one energy souce besides NEW nucluer reactors that are less damaging than fossil fuels? Unless we have a breakthough then we'll be using fossil fuels for atleast 2 more decades until we fiugure out how to create clean energy (wind and solar still arent clean, several decades away) or raw hydogen/find enough deposits to mine it.

[@rexxx777]

It has been normal for thousands of years. As written in 1906, a land of droughts and flooding rains.

[@anxiousearth680]

@@jaydenwilson9522 Better solutions not perfect solutions. Nothing is clean. But there are things that are _cleaner_ . Renewables are significantly cleaner tham coal or gas that it's not even worth it to compare between them. They're all way better than fossil fuels. Ditto with nuclear. According to a life cycle assessment by NREL wind generates 18 grams of Co2 per kw/h. This includes manufacturing and construction. Solar 43g. Gas 500g. Coal 1000g These are rough numbers off the top of my head, you can check the source if you wish. Source: DW, How clean is solar really?

[@maleahlock]

@@anxiousearth680 There's no point trying to be rational with them. They're big coal/oil shills.

[@-opus]

@@rexxx777 Australia's climate was changed dramatically before europeans arrived due to the locals burning it repeatedly. Things got even worse once the europeans took over.

[@rikulappi9664]

Finland, Sweden and Norway produce over 80% of electricity fossil free. Norway is a major oil/gas exporter.

[@thesesh5629]

Wales would be a good one. Lots of new acts and regulations that have just been made. Could be a start to a better future. I’ve heard Swansea council might be the people to speak to about stuff related to this

[@coreydark8795]

We Australia produce very little emissions thank you very much. We produce less than 2% of global emissions. We don't have a climate issue. We've always had fired floods and droughts. What issues we do have is lack of doing controlled burn offs. No land has ever been stolen. We have issues with floods because we don't build enough dams and towns built in flood areas. There is nothing wrong with coal. Australia needs coal because we don't have nuclear power and we can't pay for wind as it's more expensive and not reliable. We manufacture many things which need cheap reliable power. Only way forward for Australia unless it goes nuclear is to build new coal fired power plants which are at least 70% cleaner than current ones. But hey you don't live here in Australia so what would you know ..

[@darrenglasson7200]

A land of droughts and flooding rain's

[@coreydark8795]

@@darrenglasson7200 A men brother. Yes it poem is very true. Sadly government doesn't want to make it drought resistant aka Bradfield scheme and other dams etc

[@rexxx777]

Don't take this seriously that's all.

[@samcro8311]

100% agree with everything you pointed out well said

[@VARMOT123]

You are an indigenous genocidal land that sells iron ore and coal . Your population share is 0.3% you clown . Go back to your ancestral land

[@isidrorsantos3773]

Don't follow UK decision to shut down power stations and rely on other countries like Russia for energy needs. Look what happened to the UK right now. Because of the support for Ukraine and sanctions against Russia the gas supply from Russia has been switch off. The UK is now freezing. It would take 2 years to be self reliant on energy supply like gas for cooking and heating.

[@cakapcakep241]

So from economic perspectives, Australia economy is pretty much just like Saudi Arabia, UAE, and Qatar which depend too much on mining and raw material export. This is why it is very hard to shift from non-renewable to renewable energy.

[@jonathantan2469]

At least the UAE has the foresight to decarbonise. They recently built & commissioned the Barakah nuclear power plant, with a fourth reactor to come online in a few years. Meanwhile Australians are still debating whether to repeal their nuclear energy ban.

[@shakeelali20]

It really isn't, that's just the myth that's been perpetuated by the fossil fuel and mining lobby for decades now. Most Aussies severely overestimate the size of our mining sector because it's historically what made us wealthy so it's kind of seen with nostalgia. The fact is mining made up just under 6% of our economy in 2022, compared to services which employs nearly 79% of our workforce, and contributes 60-65% of our GDP.

[@cakapcakep241]

@@shakeelali20 Australia mining industry contribute at around 60% of its export structure so Australia is pretty much very dependant on mining industry. Stopping the Australian mining operation will cause an economic crysis.

[@adrianthoroughgood1191]

​@@cakapcakep241 Australia also has deposits of uranium lithium and other useful minerals. The coal mining companies need to adapt to these other resources.

[@SPAJ92]

Our tourism industry employs more people than mining, but we've chosen to screw the reef until it's all dug up

[@qolspony]

United States is 4, but with over 350,000 people far exceeding the countries above in population. Sad to see New Zealand on the list of polluters. Especially since their population mirrors a very small country.

[@morganstevens2522]

It comes down to how the data was used.

[@moochingmarc]

Calling BS on this statistic - source?

[@Battleneter]

Context is everything, "New Zealand ranks at the top of this list because of extensive deforestation during the 19th century, when much of its native Kauri forest was cleared for its valuable timber. The country’s tiny population at the time consequently had very high annual per-capita emissions, with the cumulative total by 1900 making up around two-thirds of the total amassed by the present day"". .........NZ ranks way down the list if your only looking back 20 years per captia, this graph is VERY misleading.

[@gregorymalchuk272]

They started including sheep farts in the calculation, which was supposedly a conspiracy theory until they just openly declared war on agriculture.

[@qolspony]

@@gregorymalchuk272 hmmmm

[@littlecatfeet9064]

Thank you for calling us out! Saving this video to share.

[@ingofreehe2168]

Even if Australia would stop using or exporting fossil fuels etc. the rest of the world is still polluting enough for the floods and fires to continue. The only difference now is, that Australia will loose billions of dollars to fight them. It is simply too small to make a difference. I agree the domestic electricity should be based more on renewables. But don't stop selling your resources to other countries !

[@moony2703]

‘This is coal, don’t be scared, don’t be afraid.’ Laughing. Oh he is _never_ going to live that down. Australia is _never_ going to let him forget that moment, and good to know the International community is on board with that. XD Chris Bowen, now our energy minister, actually reverse the tables later by pulling out a solar panel and basically quoting his words back to him, but less people know about that one.

[@gilian2587]

There is a type of coal called anthracite that is actually really pretty... not that I think we should be burning the stuff.

[@legallyfree2955]

@@gilian2587 Anthracite coal is used to make steel, where available lower grades of coal are used for energy because it cannot be used for steel making.

[@gilian2587]

@@legallyfree2955 I actually did not know that.

[@alwynwatson6119]

Buy solar makes cheap energy and cheap energy makes a woke new world order of freedom. As far as he is concerned that is more scary than climate change.

[@attilaabonyi8879]

It would be amazing if DW could do a piece on sweden and it's hidden emmision's that it has been hidding since the 90's

[@DWPlanetA]

Hey Attila 😊 Thanks for the input! Do you have any more links to resources as a start? ✨

[@attilaabonyi8879]

@@DWPlanetA if this info is not good enough for a start you can ask me or contact me if you ask for that.

[@attilaabonyi8879]

Weird i put out a comment with sources and I can't see them here

[@DWPlanetA]

Hey Attila 😊 oh, something must have gone wrong. We cannot see the sources either. Could you post them again? Thank you!✨

[@Holy_Frijole]

Jon Oliver had a good episode on the bunk carbon offsets. If I recall correctly he made fun of projects that would've been funded anyways for instance so carbon offsets is double dipping and no net positive impact.

[@adrianthoroughgood1191]

I think you mean Jon Oliver

[@glennhankins6927]

@@adrianthoroughgood1191 You mean the British lunatic?

[@DWPlanetA]

Hi Richard, did you already saw our video "Why carbon offsets are worse than you think" kzbin.info/www/bejne/bGK2iHyPrKiUiac We'd love to hear your thoughts in the comments. 🌸

[@colinframpton6118]

In 1999 Australia COAL made 87% of all electrical power mow in 2022 it's 28 .9%

[@Battleneter]

nah mate that's way off, gas and coal is still in the 70% region.

[@margaretarmstrong2445]

Colin installed capacity of wind and solar has nothing to do with the 'output', which is a fraction of the quoted nameplate.

[@detectiveofmoneypolitics]

Economic investigator Frank G Melbourne Australia 🇦🇺 still watching this very very informative content cheers Frank

[@calvin_hk]

Our electricity cost is also super expensive, that I never understand why when we are also a coal export country

[@Matthew-yc6nx]

Because of all the globalist climate rules that kneecap our economy, and the corrupt unions as well as selling out all our labour force and production to Asia.

[@dekumutant]

We also have some of the highest uptake of home solar in the world, hopefully things are looking up

[@Assenayo]

I was wondering why this was coming across like it was handwritten by the Greens, then I saw "The Australia Institute" and thought "of course"

[@LuEmanuel]

Take a look next at Canada. I don't think we're doing so well and I wish that we were doing much more and better.

[@RB-xq7qh]

I see you believed those metrics at the beginning. Its per capita metrics. If a country has a small population like Canada does, it will always be closer to the top. The US is the second largest polluter on the planet but has 300 million people so thats why they’re doing better than Canada according to those metrics. When it comes to who has put more carbon into the atmosphere since industrialization. Its 100% America and not even China can catch up. Germany would be top 5 and the UK would be top 3. Canada wouldn’t even be top 50 because Canada hasnt put much carbon into the atmosphere because the industry is pretty clean. Mostly based on hydro electric and natural gas which burns 41% cleaner than coal. Fun fact. If everyone switch to just natural gas and planted 1 billion more trees we would be within the 2c target. The best thing the world can do right now is to plant more trees. And the worst thing going on right now is deforestation. So thats the #1 thing we have to stop like yesterday.

[@Euphorica]

We're doing great.

[@russellmcdonald1964]

The answer is simple, the Murdoch press is most influential and sells editorials to the wealthiest....who are the fossil fuel industry.

[@raguifarag3688]

Which country next? Egypt!

[@whatwilljustdid]

Canada! Similar story to Australia

[@parrottsally11]

Fantastic presentation of our country’s issues with accepting climate change and dealing with our contribution. It seems the media are the biggest villains!

[@tokarteam1]

Australian here. I cannot understand our government either. We have so much money to make the transition and yet nothing is done. It’s pathetic. When we have the most powerful and reliable sunlight on the planet 🤷‍♂️

[@margaretarmstrong2445]

You don't have a clue.

[@joec2446]

Look at Canada! Image of green but have policies of oil, natural gas and lumber.

[@woodybalfour8213]

Thanks you DW...Very on point and succinct. Good on you for naming News Ltd You missed naming Gina and IPA Institute of Public Affairs

[@joubertlacerda9535]

mate, this was great piece!

[@Truthseeker371]

Does anyone talk about conserving energy? Wastage is visible at every Environmentalist's household. How much electricity and food waste can we see? The modern society look for more consumerism rather than conservation.

[@ronanonline3515]

Please do the worst accumulated emissions per capita country. It's beautiful "clean green", "100% pure" New Zealand!!!! It would be great to see the difference between the way the country portrays itself and the facts.

[@raclark2730]

What the F dose per capita mean if there are barley any people. Other than cultish guilt assignment.

[@raclark2730]

Says 7.1 tones per capita according to a graph I am seeing now, just goes to show DW is full of it.

[@KiwiG2020]

Also South Australia have enough solar to power the whole state! Bravo 😃 WA was one of the trial grounds for Tesla battery storage and one of the mines is solar powered so they are making changes at the state level ahead of the federal government. They’ve been proactive on recycling plants in Queensland. There a massive solar farm planned in the Northern Territory. I think the feasibility assessment has been completed as this will supply energy to Singapore via a pipeline as well as the Northern Territory so they ARE making inroads and I love them for it! But yeah… buying carbon credits to protect trees in another country is a bit shonky!

[@moony2703]

‘Enough power to power the whole state’ and then some! XD They had to start turning a heap off when they lost their second connector to the other states again because they couldn’t export the overflow! They could have really used a heap more batteries and vehicle to grid electric cars to sink the overflow into when that happened. Also they need to automate turning things off and on because they had to keep ramping things up and down and there was one guy from on of the solar analysis companies, who are usually mostly just looking at things like solar efficiency etc not helping control the grid on a state level, who was like ‘someone needs to take over the big red button because I’m at my father in laws birthday party and I’m about to burn the sausages!’ Things were getting a little crazy in the working overtime to stop the state grid melting down apartment. XD

[@awc900]

You forget the diesel generators at Torrens Island run regularly to top up the renewables in South Australia. Oops, nobodies supposed to mention that.😀

[@scott_itall8638]

It will only power Tenant Creek nothing else.

[@KiwiG2020]

@@awc900 A top up is different from being fully reliant on polluting energy though. I think we’ll need a back up source “just in case” even in the future.

[@awc900]

@@KiwiG2020 That's where SMRs would do the job.

[@TheVoidStares]

As an Australian. We lost control a long time ago. Most of our media organisations are headed by former top politicians from the coalition of conservatives (the so called Liberal party). And then. There’s Murdoch.

[@364679493]

wealth are very unequally distributed in australia

[@jonathantan2469]

Also interesting to note that Australia chose to prohibit nuclear energy for electricity generation, despite having rich uranium resources & lots of coastal sites far away from major populated areas. This law was passed by the conservative government, who wanted to protect the coal & gas industry. But it was also supported by the left leaning parties, on environmental excuses... Had we gone ahead & built several nuclear power stations in the 1990s, we would be mostly weaned off coal & natural gas by now. Tasmania only recently became 100% renewable. They could have actually achieved this decades ago in the 1980s, but the environmentalists put a stop on their hydropower program...

[@spacefacts1681]

The conservative party was in power at the time, but the ban bill was passed by Greens/Labor chiefly in votes IIRC there were only like 15 MPs in the Senate at the time to vote it in

[@-opus]

If you want nuclear power, move to France. There are better ways and many of us are thankful for the lack of nuclear power, even though we know they only did it to protect fossil fuel.

[@thejixor]

Capital outlay is very high, especially when factoring in waste disposal, and construction takes is longer than one political term. I suspect ultimately they're the main reasons it hasn't been adopted.

[@EveryoneWhoUsesThisTV]

Nuclear would have been a great way to power Oz in the late half of the last century... Little late now, save our uranium for the aerospace market that will be blooming... :)

[@gilian2587]

I had thought that there was a big push for geothermal in Australia?

[@gpsfinancial6988]

Understandably there are lots of comments about New Zealand's emissions. They could definitely improve, but much of the problem is measurement. New Zealand is a massive carbon sink. Unlike many other countries almost 30% of the country is preserved in National parks, there is no credit given for preserving existing trees. If your country cut down all of it's forest and you plant one, you are a goodie, if you had 100 million trees and you cut one down you are a baddie. The other big negative for New Zealand is exporting food (dairy being the "worst" example). If you feed 20 million people with a population of 5 million, most of the CO2 generated by producing the food counts against the exporter, not the importer or consumer. The fact that if the importer produced the food at home it would create more carbon than buying from a more efficient producer does not count in the carbon counting game. Transferring emissions to someone less efficient is bad for the planet, but good for your score.

[@moochingmarc]

What is the source of this statistic? NZ power generation is ~80% renewal at the worst of times which is roughly half of total energy consumption. NZ doesn't have much in the way of large industry like steel refining either so it is hard to fathom how NZ could possibly be the worst CO2 polluter per capita. Methane on the other hand though...

[@jasonbrown6719]

plz do an article on how climate change is affecting NewZealand and include how ash from Australia's bush ended up on NewZealand's Southern Alps, and how much the dairy there contributes to the overall emissions

[@rocinante4609]

The public mood has begun to shift in the last few yrs. Environmentally friendly policies are becoming more popular. We don't know how long this will continue but there's a feeling that things can't go back to business as usual.

[@marin1567]

Australia has the highest CO2 emission and plastic use per capita, and we are proud of it

[@raclark2730]

Yeah always quoting per capita. Its a drop in the ocean with our population size.

[@raclark2730]

@@DemPilafian I understand collective responsibility you smug git. There is not however justification of the climate villain label. Politics is all this is and politics will never help the environment. Wake up.

[@raclark2730]

@@DemPilafian Well this video is and you are making excuses for it. But I apologize for calling you a smug git, after all DW is the real villian here.

[@zakosist]

@@raclark2730 Per capita does matter because it shows how much a country could reasonably improve. Nobody can help if there is just already too many people in the country, and they still got their needs to cover. If people pollute a lot per person, that indicates a lot of unnecessary pollution that can be done something about. Either way all countries should work to improve, and NOT wait for someone else to do it first, that only holds back actual progress. All improvement counts and are needed. And all countries improving a little bit may have more overall impact than only the "worst" country improving a lot. Same with people on an individual scale, getting the vast majority of people to do things a bit more Eco-friendly can have bigger impact than just a very few doing everything perfect. But many different efforts are needed.

[@raclark2730]

@@zakosist But it is not a tool to measure total omissions by country in some kind of guilt competition. Consider that places such as China may be low per capita, but high industrially. People held in abject poverty don't have high emissions for that reason. Its not just about a life style choice in the real world.

[@matthewwilliams647]

As a proud Aussie, this was the last time I view this channel

[@Tailspin80]

That’s a bit pathetic. Ostrich strategy.

[@bryanmurphy3328]

It's always good to learn new things and to put things in context. It's all about the cents that are made through the complex system of doing the same and distortions of democracy. It's a complex environment when those that have no vote provide the money for elections and receive influence. While those who vote have less influence on outcomes. Change is difficult when the system you have is dependent on doing the same. It is a self reinforcing complex system of dependency. It is a system that makes cents not sense.

[@treeonfy]

Insightful 😮 could you make one about Italy

[@DWPlanetA]

An interesting pitch! 🇮🇹 Do you have a specific concern regarding Italy?

[@treeonfy]

@@DWPlanetA Sure, we're still behind in terms of actions and still heavily investing on fossil fuel. In contrast to the European average of 30%, our energy supply come from fossil fuel for up to 55% circa.

[@V8RangeRoversGoingNutts]

Centre left. Albo is well over to the left

[@lp-gv1fc]

fantastic video. content solid. Can you please add your sources to the description of the stats you stated in the video. This helps us reference back to this video, HUGE thankyou.

[@rexxx777]

Don't hold your breath for that.

[@DWPlanetA]

So glad you liked it! Please take a look at the "Read more" section in the video description for references and subscribe to our channel for new video content every Friday! 🌈🍀

[@dipendragahamagar2386]

Informative video❤

[@henrytang2203]

If Australia doesn't export coal and gas, other countries will fill in gaps in the market. Other countries with less mining regulations and less ethical work practices. You can limit global emissions with more EVs and solar panels. That sector is growing.

[@mimikrya8794]

Since according to the media, and DW is one of them, renewable projects have already been implemented in many countries, I am interested in how much CO2 emissions have been reduced so far compared to the previous situation? Whether the total CO2 emission has been reduced to any extent or not so far?

[@ninaromm5491]

@ mimi krya . Indeed ! Time for follow-up...

[@Amaling]

global CO2 is still rising. Some countries are improving, but it's not enough

[@mimikrya8794]

@@Amaling It's clear to me, but I would like to see the effectiveness of promoted "green" policies and measures discussed in the media without censorship. The measures taken so far are primarily obfuscation of reality and dumbing down of the people, with the aim of keeping politicians in power. In our country, they would say, "you want to cure cancer with chamomile".

[@margaretarmstrong2445]

The overall global C02 emissions are continuing on the same trajectory. They continue to rise. Some of the biggest western nations have sent most of their major manufacturing to China, including renewables manufacturing. Partly in a bid to reduce emissions and meet targets but mostly because since they shut down their own coal-fired power plants to reduce their emissions, they can't afford the exorbitant cost of 'clean' electricity. So now these countries are reliant on China for the infrastructure that caused their economies to blow out of control. Nuts eh! China has so much business now that it's opening two coal-fired power plants each and every week. How else will it keep the infrastructure cheap and help with the global 'transition'. Gee I hope they don't decide they don't want to play anymore, what an easy way to screw the planet. Of course Australia always likes to be helpful, we purchase almost all of our renewables offshore and we blow up our own power plants. So to answer your question, C02 has not been reduced by any country in reality. It has been exported to China which is why their C02 emissions are around 30% of the anthropogenic contribution and rising. Isn't it lucky that anthropogenic C02 has never actually been proven to be the control knob of the temperature. Not by anyone. In fact C02 has been much higher in the long history of our planet and the temperatures were far lower at those times.

[@mimikrya8794]

@@margaretarmstrong2445 Only then there were not 8 billion people on Earth.

[@floydgondolli7321]

DW really is obsessed with Australia. Germany still mines coal lmao.

[@DWPlanetA]

Hi Floyd, Germany does, yes. Please watch our video "Lützerath: Why Germany is destroying villages for coal" here kzbin.info/www/bejne/eZuplol7h8upfpY and let us know your thoughts in the comment section. 🌱

[@PapaphobiaPictures]

It's so disenfranchising being here when we see the absolute potential of this land to generate the industry of the future but our leaders don't have ambition beyond digging dirt from the ground

[@astra6712]

It’s 80% desert.

[@PapaphobiaPictures]

@Astra 671 great for solar. Plus the Australian desert isn't barren like the Sahara or other deserts. There's plenty of opportunities for biofuel production, decentralised energy production, carbon negative industries. Hell, even our natural gas could undergo methane pyrolysis instead to produce hydrogen and capture the carbon in solid state char naturally to stop it emitting carbon into the air. Plus all that coastline to work off too

[@Akonu]

Please go for Japan, I really have no idea, wether they are on a good or bad path to climate neutrality

[@aryp1622]

Surprised at the end you didn't mention South Australia having almost 80% of its power coming from intermittent renewables (solar and wind), a one-of-a-kind type of grid

[@bartosz7170]

Typical german thing

[@margaretarmstrong2445]

It's actually 70% nameplate capacity, but that does not relate to output. They also rely on a major gas plant and they use diesel for backup too. During times of severe wind drought they call on other states through interconnectors. This will prove to be a problem since we just lost 10% of our energy supply in NSW. The fact that South Australia's population is only 1.8 million makes it a bit more manageable.

[@aryp1622]

@@margaretarmstrong2445 this is actually how much power was supplied from renewables as per AEMO. As for the nameplate capacity it is more than our general demand with more being installed. At the moment there are some shortfalls so the Torrens Island gas power plant is fired up, though the share of this is getting less over time with a lot of power being imported from Vic during shortfalls. With Project Energy Connect interconnector, it will allow more renewables to pass to and from the other states, along with the installation of synchronous condensors which will increase the grids inertia from the lack of spinning reserves. Sure it may not be windy/sunny all the time, but surely Aus being such a big country, it'd be sunny/windy somewhere else. SA is far ahead than most and is moving at great pace. It's a real shame QLD and NSW are quite behind with high use of coal - this is decreasing as we speak (eg with the Liddell power station being decommissioned), with more investment heading towards renewable energy projects nationwide.

[@margaretarmstrong2445]

​@@aryp1622 It still comes down to your small population. It will be harder to meet the demands of the three eastern states. I'm not sure why you think that closing Liddell is a good thing. NSW has just lost 10% of reliably delivered 24/7 energy supply. Renewables might be working for SA at the moment but once the roll-out of wind and solar begins in earnest there are going to be problems. And you don't need to tell me about the extent of renewables roll-out in Australia either, I have the misfortune of living in a Renewable Energy Zone and the environmental and social impact is devastating. This has nothing to do with saving the planet, even if it needed saving. It's purely a land grab and a redistribution of wealth. There is very little Australian content in the the renewables industry here. We purchase 90% of our renewables infrastructure from China, where's the energy security in that? Almost all of the developers are from overseas and set up small dollar shelf companies to call themselves an Australian company. These developers mostly sell the projects early on, sometimes as soon as they're approved, that's where the profits are and these profits are going overseas. One thin film cadmium/ tellurium solar project 4 kilometres from our home is on to It's third owner and it was only commissioned in 2019. This project has been plagued with problems and was last sold at a third of what it cost to build. It caught fire last week but fortunately benign conditions kept the flames low and the toxic panels didn't ignite. The wires were damaged on 18 hectares of panels but I think they had to shut down the whole 87MW project to establish what the cause. The promise of jobs is a joke too. The unemployment rate out here in the regions is low, certainly here it's 2.4%. The populations in the towns that will be surrounded by wind and solar are small, ours is 2,700 so where are all these workers supposed to come from? One of the big solar projects out at Wellington NSW had 550 backpackers during peak build, they had to build camps for them. There are kilometres of solar panels out there now, all from China owned by foreign parent companies and built largely by foreign workers. And all this on agricultural land of which Australia has a total of only 6%. The communities out there are broken. They are up to 32 projects so far for our region and two hundred square kilometres of agricultural land will be utilised for some of that just next to our beautiful historic town. Just one wind/solar project near us will utilise 13 square kilometres (1,300 hectares) for the solar and 77 square kilometres (7,700 hectares) of agricultural land for the 69 wind turbines each one 7MW and standing at 280m high and 200m wide. This one project will also include two substations and 11 kilometres of its own transmission lines. These turbines will start a few kilometres from town and will be be situated in our valley where countless varieties of birds fly, many of them in flocks. Many different varieties of parrots, birds of prey including the Wedge Tailed Eagle, owls, waterbirds and different bat species. There have been 19 endangered species of birds identified in our region and all the developers have to do is purchase certificates and they will be absolved of any responsibility for the loss of these creatures. They are up to 800 wind turbines so far across the 32 projects with more to come. Renewables only work part-time and most of it doesn't even last for 20 years. You want to remind me of why I should be happy about wind and solar destroying my sense of place? And tearing apart my community?

[@firefighterJP]

Greed and selfishness is alive and strong. What's interesting is the energy companies in Australia seem to levy the same amount of sway on politicians there as they do here in the United States. Same tactics.

[@paulsz6194]

SME could be said for some of the people who are promoting solar...they are in it for what they can get out of it. Nuclear is a great clean and sustainable power generation form.

[@-opus]

@@paulsz6194 Does this not apply to all of the nutters promoting nuclear on every power thread on youtube?

[@paulsz6194]

@@-opus Is there some sort of Nuclear-Power station stock or holding company on the ASX? How are they profiting from promoting it? Anyone with the capital can get involved in marketing & selling solar panels, as the government is subsidising them, are they not? As far as I’m aware, there are no subsidies for nuclear, am I right?

[@-opus]

@@paulsz6194 You tell me, you are one of the ones basically spamming it... Hopefully you all go for a group retreat at Chernobyl soon.

[@gregorymalchuk272]

It's not greed. Australia is exactly what the USA would look like if they didn't have shale gas. They would burn huge amounts of coal for electricity generation.

[@bobcat718]

People act like countries can just swap to renewables in a heartbeat, it doesn't work like that. Anyone with any technical or engineering skills would know that

[@regfries8279]

Australia spent the last decade governed by a coalition of two political parties who argued that primary industry (mining and agriculture) was not only the driver of the economy, but also of our society and culture, irrespective of the environmental damage it caused. We now have a new government that understands the damage that’s been done and is committed to turn things around, but it’ll take a long time to repair the environmental damage our previous government inflicted. We've been a international climate villain, but finally, our heart is in the right place.

[@email5023]

Coal-alition :D

[@astra6712]

While most people are buying diesel 4WDs 👍

[@gregorymalchuk272]

I won't believe a word your lying mouth said until Australia gets rid of its anti-science ban on nuclear energy.

[@asthmatictuna]

Always interesting to see other countries takes on ours. Pretty bang on I must say. Curious to hear about EU not allowing forest offsets and limiting their use. We could certainly stand to be doing so much better.

[@justhuman3886]

Thank you DW

[@DWPlanetA]

Very welcome and thank you for watching 😊

[@BestFoodReviewFeatured]

People tend to only show concern when major events or personal circumstances affect them. As humans, we often prioritize our own interests and fail to extend the same level of care and concern to others. This raises the question: why is it so hard to care for others? Perhaps it's because there's no monetary reward for doing so. However, if we want to make the world a better place, we need to start caring more. Though it may be challenging, it's important to start taking action now. After all, if we don't start now, when will we?

[@michaelfabish-wood4444]

Solar/wind power is also only a small % of the problem. We need mass energy storage to complete the transition. The technology exists, now let’s get it all in place.

[@RechtmanDon]

People often point to China as the world's largest source of CO2, which is true. But the deception is a consequence of population. Please do a per capita assessment. (Note that India by this standard is one of the least CO2 polluting nations.)

[@Tailspin80]

India’s population is rising fast. Perversely this helps their per capita CO2 as they roll out more coal fired power stations.

[@Thebreakdownshow1]

I think it is down to the fact Australia is like Saudi Arabia but instead of Oil they depend on selling their biggest export.

[@willemhuiskamp]

Except we don't. Not only did the video show that the fossil fuel industry makes up a miniscule amount of our GDP, the profits of these companies are barely even taxed, with most of the money going offshore. It is out and out corruption of the political system, nothing more, nothing less.

[@grandslapper]

Not really. As the guy pointed out, coal only contributes 1.4% to GDP. But the people who sell it are extremely rich, are good at lobbying and have powerful friends in the media.

[@czarkusa2018]

I'd love to be like Saudi Arabia but the majority of these megaprofits go overseas.

[@paulfri1569]

Bingo!

[@FrankSustainAMustly]

Despite all the bad from past inaction, I think there is still real hope for the future of sustainability in Australia. Especially as a global leader in decentralisation of energy infrastructure through uptake of rooftop solar PV. This doesn't solve the problem just yet, because there are a range of issues to be solved to increase renewables to even 98% of our electricity supply. Unfortunately there is no magic switch to change an entire energy infrastructure overnight, even if Australia does have the natural resources to make it possible. Massive appreciation to the engineers solving these problems!

[@dfodiego]

Please talk about Brazil! Our country is perceived as a protagonist on climate change but is not true. We have the forests but the deforestation too. How the redd+ projects is overestimated and why there is so many junkies offsets about it. The importance of reforestation, projects tha remove CO2 and not just avoid emissions could be the future.

[@mikehogan9265]

What a lot of tripe. Unfortunately too many Australians have caught this climate religion which is based on emotion and not science.

[@DJ-yj1vg]

Exactly

[@Vanessa-qj5hj]

True brah

[@user-cc2np7xy6w]

Yes, and I'd like to see how well an Australian " all electric" road train would handle some of the toughest roads in the land while transporting heavy mining, electrical generators and other types of the things required for basic life in remote towns in the outback. Them battery packs would cost the earth to replace in a truck.

[@anueyiagumichael8188]

Australia is acting like a developing country when it comes to climate change issues. But am glad they're catching up quickly. Also, China, EU and USA should shut down all their coal powered plants to save the world 🌎🌍 from catastrophic consequences of global warming.

[@czarkusa2018]

We're more of a developing country than China lol.

[@rexxx777]

Global warming? That was debunked when parts of the world are getting colder. You mean climate change.

[@margaretarmstrong2445]

There is no crisis. The planet is not in any kind of danger. Do some research, ask questions.

[@RegisDee]

If not already done, please look at the top 2 poluters per capita as listed early in this video: New Zealand and Canada, the latter in particular

[@itt2055]

Just the rooftop solar power in Adelaide South Australia produces over 3 times the electricity needs for the city, but due to the privatisation of electricity production, the coal burning power stations are still being used. If you combine the solar and wind farms, South Australia produces over 10 times the electricity needs for the entire state, so there is no need for fossil fuels to produce electricity. If you combine rooftop wind and solar power systems with a system of closed loop hydroelectric power stations strategically placed throughout a city, you can easily produce enough electricity for any modern city. The biggest problem is that the fossil fuel industry spends billions bribing politicians and spreading lies and disinformation about renewable energy systems, Australians want to change, but first the corruption must end then electricity production must be placed in the hands of the government and removed from private companies.