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The Carbon Club: How a network of influential climate sceptics, politicians and business leaders fought to control Australia's climate policy
As the climate crisis threatens more extreme bushfire seasons, droughts and floods, many Australians are demanding their leaders answer the question: 'Why didn't you do something?'
The Carbon Club reveals the truth behind Australia's two decades of climate inaction. It's the story of how a loose confederation of influential climate-science sceptics, politicians and business leaders sought to control Australia's response to the climate crisis. They shared a fear that dealing with climate change would undermine the nation's wealth, jobs and competitive advantage - and the power of the carbon club.
Central to their strategy was an international campaign to undermine climate science and the urgency of the climate crisis. The more the climate science was questioned, the more politicians lost the imperative to act. The sustained success of the carbon club over two decades explains why Australian governments failed to deal with the challenge of climate change. But at what cost to us and the next generation?
One of Australia's most respected investigative journalists, Marian Wilkinson has tracked the rise and rise of Australia's carbon club in brilliant detail, with extraordinary access to key players on all sides. The result is a book that is both essential and disturbing reading.
The Carbon Club reveals the truth behind Australia's two decades of climate inaction. It's the story of how a loose confederation of influential climate-science sceptics, politicians and business leaders sought to control Australia's response to the climate crisis. They shared a fear that dealing with climate change would undermine the nation's wealth, jobs and competitive advantage - and the power of the carbon club.
Central to their strategy was an international campaign to undermine climate science and the urgency of the climate crisis. The more the climate science was questioned, the more politicians lost the imperative to act. The sustained success of the carbon club over two decades explains why Australian governments failed to deal with the challenge of climate change. But at what cost to us and the next generation?
One of Australia's most respected investigative journalists, Marian Wilkinson has tracked the rise and rise of Australia's carbon club in brilliant detail, with extraordinary access to key players on all sides. The result is a book that is both essential and disturbing reading.
456 pages, Kindle Edition
First published September 1, 2022
41 people are currently reading
658 people want to read
About the author
Marian Wilkinson
6 books11 followersMarian Wilkinson is a multi-award-winning Australian journalist with a career that has spanned radio, television and print.
She has covered politics, national security, refugee issues, and climate change as well as serving as a foreign correspondent in Washington, DC for The Sydney Morning Herald and The Age. She was a deputy editor of The Sydney Morning Herald, executive producer of the ABC's Four Corners program, and a senior reporter with Four Corners.
As environment editor for The Sydney Morning Herald, she reported on the rapid melt of Arctic sea ice for a joint Four Corners-Sydney Morning Herald production that won a Walkley Award for journalism and the Australian Museum's Eureka prize for environmental journalism. She also covered the UN climate conferences in Bali and Copenhagen.
As a member of the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists, she reported on the Panama Papers and the Paradise Papers for Four Corners.
In 2018, she was inducted into the Australian Media Hall of Fame.
She has covered politics, national security, refugee issues, and climate change as well as serving as a foreign correspondent in Washington, DC for The Sydney Morning Herald and The Age. She was a deputy editor of The Sydney Morning Herald, executive producer of the ABC's Four Corners program, and a senior reporter with Four Corners.
As environment editor for The Sydney Morning Herald, she reported on the rapid melt of Arctic sea ice for a joint Four Corners-Sydney Morning Herald production that won a Walkley Award for journalism and the Australian Museum's Eureka prize for environmental journalism. She also covered the UN climate conferences in Bali and Copenhagen.
As a member of the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists, she reported on the Panama Papers and the Paradise Papers for Four Corners.
In 2018, she was inducted into the Australian Media Hall of Fame.
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September 17, 2020
Any Australian who has paid even cursory attention to this country’s poisonous politics over climate change these past two decades will know this story, but to see it all laid out in sequence, in every depressing detail, is shattering.
In ‘The Carbon Club’, former ABC Four Corners executive producer Marian Wilkinson has written the definitive account of the countless sabotaged policies, political coups, disinformation campaigns and discrediting of climate science that this fossil fuel rich country has become famous for.
Wilkinson bookends her account with the almost biblical fires that engulfed the southeast coast of Australia in the summer of 2019/20. These were fires that no scientist of any standing would deny were the result of intensifying global warming but which a government, owned by the ‘carbon club’, insisted was due to something else - arson or poor management or just the normal cycle.
It is maddening In fact, I became increasingly furious reading this account of vested interests, cynical media companies and ambitious politicians denying science, turning Australia into a climate change pariah and condemning our children and grandchildren to a highly uncertain future.
The villains here are many and are not confined to one party. The supposedly ‘conservative’ (what’s conservative about trashing our natural heritage, you may well ask) Liberal-National coalition is clearly the worst, but the Labor Party has had its own quota of angry uncles and carbon club lackeys.
What’s even more depressing is that population can’t see it. They can’t see that the destruction of the possibility of rational energy policy in Australia is a consequence of special interests for whom reducing our greenhouse gas emissions threatens their profits or ideological obsessions. Instead, the LNP ritually wedges Labor which is caught between its traditional regional, blue-collar constituency worried about jobs and its liberal, urban middle class, university educated constituency worried about the planet.
Of course, we all know that the coal and gas industry are doomed anyway. And unless we create new industries, built around sustainable and renewable energy, those jobs will go. And if we don’t, our biggest problems won’t be jobs, but living in a country that has been rendered utterly unliveable.
To see the truth of this, one only has to listen to former smart and centrist politicians of both stripes - Turnbull and Rudd and Hewson and Carr - who all say the political process has been poisoned for more than two decades by viciously self-interested and deep pocketed fossil fuel interests and their myriad court of fake experts, ‘think tanks’, profile-seeking hack ‘journalists’ and outright nutters.
Reading this book makes you despair for our political system - the murky role of political donations, the failure of a Fourth Estate dominated by Rupert Murdoch’s bent newspapers, the system of pre-selections that recruits hacks who believe in nothing but their own aggrandisement - which all adds up to the impossibility of change.
The greatest tragedy is the longer we delay, the more pain we bequeath on our kids and grandkids, the less chance they have of surviving this nightmare. And it will be a nightmare - dying reefs, continued drought, apocalyptic fires and storms, rising sea levels that engulf entire countries, warming oceans, dying fish populations, mass species extinctions, water and food shortages, mass migrations, mounting global conflict - the list goes on.
If we fail to act now, if we do not overthrow and destroy the corrupt system that is forestalling essential change, subsequent generations will have every right to spit on our sorry graves.
In ‘The Carbon Club’, former ABC Four Corners executive producer Marian Wilkinson has written the definitive account of the countless sabotaged policies, political coups, disinformation campaigns and discrediting of climate science that this fossil fuel rich country has become famous for.
Wilkinson bookends her account with the almost biblical fires that engulfed the southeast coast of Australia in the summer of 2019/20. These were fires that no scientist of any standing would deny were the result of intensifying global warming but which a government, owned by the ‘carbon club’, insisted was due to something else - arson or poor management or just the normal cycle.
It is maddening In fact, I became increasingly furious reading this account of vested interests, cynical media companies and ambitious politicians denying science, turning Australia into a climate change pariah and condemning our children and grandchildren to a highly uncertain future.
The villains here are many and are not confined to one party. The supposedly ‘conservative’ (what’s conservative about trashing our natural heritage, you may well ask) Liberal-National coalition is clearly the worst, but the Labor Party has had its own quota of angry uncles and carbon club lackeys.
What’s even more depressing is that population can’t see it. They can’t see that the destruction of the possibility of rational energy policy in Australia is a consequence of special interests for whom reducing our greenhouse gas emissions threatens their profits or ideological obsessions. Instead, the LNP ritually wedges Labor which is caught between its traditional regional, blue-collar constituency worried about jobs and its liberal, urban middle class, university educated constituency worried about the planet.
Of course, we all know that the coal and gas industry are doomed anyway. And unless we create new industries, built around sustainable and renewable energy, those jobs will go. And if we don’t, our biggest problems won’t be jobs, but living in a country that has been rendered utterly unliveable.
To see the truth of this, one only has to listen to former smart and centrist politicians of both stripes - Turnbull and Rudd and Hewson and Carr - who all say the political process has been poisoned for more than two decades by viciously self-interested and deep pocketed fossil fuel interests and their myriad court of fake experts, ‘think tanks’, profile-seeking hack ‘journalists’ and outright nutters.
Reading this book makes you despair for our political system - the murky role of political donations, the failure of a Fourth Estate dominated by Rupert Murdoch’s bent newspapers, the system of pre-selections that recruits hacks who believe in nothing but their own aggrandisement - which all adds up to the impossibility of change.
The greatest tragedy is the longer we delay, the more pain we bequeath on our kids and grandkids, the less chance they have of surviving this nightmare. And it will be a nightmare - dying reefs, continued drought, apocalyptic fires and storms, rising sea levels that engulf entire countries, warming oceans, dying fish populations, mass species extinctions, water and food shortages, mass migrations, mounting global conflict - the list goes on.
If we fail to act now, if we do not overthrow and destroy the corrupt system that is forestalling essential change, subsequent generations will have every right to spit on our sorry graves.
October 14, 2020
As a teacher I can remember in 1988 teaching a class of twelve-year olds a unit on the climate and weather. I clearly remember at the end of the unit wrapping a blanket around a large world globe to explain the idea of climate change. I cannot remember the moment when climate change/global warming became such a critical issue in Australia. It is fascinating that it only appears to be in the USA and Australia that climate change has been such a divisive issue.
This book is a detailed account of the tortured development of a policies, more accurately the failure to develop policies to counter global warming.
It has always baffled me why political conservatives and neo-liberal have uniformly been opposed to anti-global warming policies. For some it is the threat that these policies have towards their market-based ideas of freedom and competition, choice. For others it was the idea that the new environment movement was the twenty-first centuries version of communism. There was the validity in the knowledge that not mining coal would lead to the loss of millions of dollars for the large multi-national mining companies, that a change in emphasis to renewable energy was a risky process.
The truth is that conservatives have now become the party with no political vision or imagination. They have a bias towards the past. All they want to do is maintain the established order and renewables are not part of this vision.
This book is a surgical analysis of the characters who have lined up on either side of this intractable issue. The denialist come sceptics through to the green idealists. Wilkinson tells us all about the individuals on both sides and how they have influenced the public perception of this complex issue
Liberal politicians: Howard, Robb, Minchin, Hill, Abbott, Robb and Bernardi, the last three were collectively responsible for the “people’s response”, that was modelled on the American Tea Party movement.
Businesses: Minerals Council of Australia, Australian Chamber of Commerce and Industry and NSW Minerals Council. Mining giants BHP, Santos, Rio Tinto and Glencore and its people, Warburton, Morgan, Newman, Reinhart, Palmer.
There was even a special mention of that reprobate, George Pell.
Climate deniers: Ian Pilmer, RobertCarter and Peter Ridd.
Special mention must be made of the role of the Murdoch media and the myrmidons who incessantly sprout the corporation’s line.
On the other side there have been Labor and Green politicians of various character and ability who have strived to achieve change for the better. Ross Garnaut, Martin Parkinson, Tim Flannery
It is interesting reading about the ideas and concepts held by climate deniers in the first decade of this century and where things have developed to in 2020. In many ways the market itself and human behaviour have moved the debate on. Alternatives to carbon have intensified in spite of what these individuals have done. Green power is growing to become a major part of Australia’s energy mix. Investors are ignoring these troglodytes and see re-newable energy as the future source of much of the economy’s power needs. As I write this review the SMH headline is “Old king coal dethroned by solar power.”
Wilkinson has given us a detailed account of the history of climate change over the last three decades and Australia’s inability to develop coherent policy in the areas of climate change and energy production. As time passes and more “climate events” occur the picture will become clearer. What the eventual outcome for the planet and it's billions of inhabitants is anyone’s guess. Me? At my age I wont be around to see what happens. I will leave that to the young.
This book is a detailed account of the tortured development of a policies, more accurately the failure to develop policies to counter global warming.
It has always baffled me why political conservatives and neo-liberal have uniformly been opposed to anti-global warming policies. For some it is the threat that these policies have towards their market-based ideas of freedom and competition, choice. For others it was the idea that the new environment movement was the twenty-first centuries version of communism. There was the validity in the knowledge that not mining coal would lead to the loss of millions of dollars for the large multi-national mining companies, that a change in emphasis to renewable energy was a risky process.
The truth is that conservatives have now become the party with no political vision or imagination. They have a bias towards the past. All they want to do is maintain the established order and renewables are not part of this vision.
This book is a surgical analysis of the characters who have lined up on either side of this intractable issue. The denialist come sceptics through to the green idealists. Wilkinson tells us all about the individuals on both sides and how they have influenced the public perception of this complex issue
Liberal politicians: Howard, Robb, Minchin, Hill, Abbott, Robb and Bernardi, the last three were collectively responsible for the “people’s response”, that was modelled on the American Tea Party movement.
Businesses: Minerals Council of Australia, Australian Chamber of Commerce and Industry and NSW Minerals Council. Mining giants BHP, Santos, Rio Tinto and Glencore and its people, Warburton, Morgan, Newman, Reinhart, Palmer.
There was even a special mention of that reprobate, George Pell.
Climate deniers: Ian Pilmer, RobertCarter and Peter Ridd.
Special mention must be made of the role of the Murdoch media and the myrmidons who incessantly sprout the corporation’s line.
On the other side there have been Labor and Green politicians of various character and ability who have strived to achieve change for the better. Ross Garnaut, Martin Parkinson, Tim Flannery
It is interesting reading about the ideas and concepts held by climate deniers in the first decade of this century and where things have developed to in 2020. In many ways the market itself and human behaviour have moved the debate on. Alternatives to carbon have intensified in spite of what these individuals have done. Green power is growing to become a major part of Australia’s energy mix. Investors are ignoring these troglodytes and see re-newable energy as the future source of much of the economy’s power needs. As I write this review the SMH headline is “Old king coal dethroned by solar power.”
Wilkinson has given us a detailed account of the history of climate change over the last three decades and Australia’s inability to develop coherent policy in the areas of climate change and energy production. As time passes and more “climate events” occur the picture will become clearer. What the eventual outcome for the planet and it's billions of inhabitants is anyone’s guess. Me? At my age I wont be around to see what happens. I will leave that to the young.
January 9, 2021
As described, a history of Australia's climate change policy.
Especially enlightening - descriptions of coral bleaching events which threaten Australia's iconic Great Barrier Reef.
Especially enlightening - descriptions of coral bleaching events which threaten Australia's iconic Great Barrier Reef.
January 1, 2021
The Carbon Club is a book about the history of climate policy in Australia. Marian Wilkinson started this book by outlining the Kyoto climate conference's role and why there were countries against Kyoto's principle. Each chapter of the Carbon Club outlines the different issues involved in the way Australia handled climate change in the last twenty years. Marian Wilkinson also stated that Australians always remember bush fires by the worst the day of the fires until summer of 2019-2020. The Australian people will remember the summer of 2019-2020 as the Black Summer. The summer of 2019-2020 also highlighted for Australian people that we need to be more proactive in protecting the Australian environment form climate change.
The Carbon Club is the first book I have read of Marian Wilkinson. The Carbon Club opened my eyes to the politics that are involved in protecting the Australian environment. The Carbon Club also highlighted how large corporate companies get involved in policies making in Australia. Marian Wilkinson did a fantastic job highlighting how the government is engaged in destroying the Australian environment. The Carbon Club is well written and researched by Marian Wilkinson. The way Marian Wilkinson structured Carbon Club allowed me to engage with this book.
I recommend this book.
The Carbon Club is the first book I have read of Marian Wilkinson. The Carbon Club opened my eyes to the politics that are involved in protecting the Australian environment. The Carbon Club also highlighted how large corporate companies get involved in policies making in Australia. Marian Wilkinson did a fantastic job highlighting how the government is engaged in destroying the Australian environment. The Carbon Club is well written and researched by Marian Wilkinson. The way Marian Wilkinson structured Carbon Club allowed me to engage with this book.
I recommend this book.
September 6, 2021
This book made me so angry I questioned why I was reading it. Not because I disagreed with it, but because it actually made me think worse of all the politicians and business people who I already suspected were evil and poisonous. When you get the full timeline of the greasy oil soaked greed that has controlled our country for close to thirty years, you would also want to throw your reading device across the room and possibly throw up your most recent meal. Set against interludes of maximum recorded temperatures, coral bleachings and devestating bushfires, the pandering, elite, entitled rulers succeed in duping our country and squandering its future.
I suppose if that bleak and unhappy story doesn’t destroy your will to live, there is a little bit of hope in the narrative in the form of the brave activists and scientists who maybe naively but mostly nobly stand against the marauders of the future of the human race.
I suppose it won’t matter in the long run. Our rich sparsely populated country will probably be fine as the rest of the world falls into famine and chaos. Australia might be the best place to spectate the end of a livable world as 2050 approaches. Just be sure to buy those negatively geared investment properties on high ground.
I suppose if that bleak and unhappy story doesn’t destroy your will to live, there is a little bit of hope in the narrative in the form of the brave activists and scientists who maybe naively but mostly nobly stand against the marauders of the future of the human race.
I suppose it won’t matter in the long run. Our rich sparsely populated country will probably be fine as the rest of the world falls into famine and chaos. Australia might be the best place to spectate the end of a livable world as 2050 approaches. Just be sure to buy those negatively geared investment properties on high ground.
October 20, 2020
This is an excellent book. It is hard to read given the blatant climate change deniers and their power and refusal to do anything, but it is very important to read it. The liberal party’s history of climate change denial or worse, apathy to the whole issue, is critical to understand if climate change continues to be a key election issue. This book covers that very well.
June 13, 2022
Fascinating read about decades of climate inaction by successive Australian Governments thanks to politicians more interested in protecting their power and keeping the large donations of political influencers rolling in than serving the public and the national interest. History will judge, and I suspect it won't be kind.
December 10, 2021
First rate journalism.
May 6, 2023
A wonderfully chronicled story of all the blunders and history of Australia’s failed action on climate change. Makes you wonder how things could have been different…
May 12, 2024
An interesting (and somewhat depressing) look at the past 20 years of climate change policy in Australia. Would be fascinating to read the author's views on climate policy post- 2020.
January 8, 2021
Outstanding summary of climate policy in Australia over the last 2 decades.
July 29, 2021
It was sobering to read of the insidious, targeted efforts by key actors to block climate action in Australia from the 1980's up until the present day. What surprised me were the specific examples where the media inflamed and provoked certain actions and decisions from all sides.
Mining companies are selling soon to be stranded assets and distancing themselves from ideology that is not consistent with current risk management. As this book clearly shows, the financial argument for a carbon-intensive economy is truly gone, but our country is still captive to the Carbon Club, the few who are taking away the future of so many.
Mining companies are selling soon to be stranded assets and distancing themselves from ideology that is not consistent with current risk management. As this book clearly shows, the financial argument for a carbon-intensive economy is truly gone, but our country is still captive to the Carbon Club, the few who are taking away the future of so many.
October 14, 2020
The COVID-19 pandemic has most definitely taken the spotlight for the number one issue on the agenda (which is fair enough), and whilst climate change has taken a back seat, it doesn't mean that it doesn't exist anymore. I'm definitely more knowledgeable of the science behind climate change than the politics behind it, so I picked this book up wanting to learn more about Australia's political history in relation to the issue.
It was so infuriating to read. Reading about the political inaction from various leaders over the course of two decades left me feeling absolutely gutted. I think that we as Australians are quick to point the finger at other countries because their greenhouse gas emissions are much larger than ours. But if you look at greenhouse gas emissions per capita, Australia ranks higher than all of those countries, and depending on where you look ranks at least in the top 5 countries in the world. I had no idea that was the case until I did my own research earlier this year, it's not something that's presented often in the media or something students are educated on.
It's not just the government though, it's the rich and powerful climate sceptics who have their own agendas that are also contributing to this inaction. Throughout this book I often had the mental image of the pigs wearing top hats from Animal Farm when I thought of them. They're quick to back the sceptical politicians with their fortunes and shut down those who actually try to make change.
I was hoping maybe for a happy ending, but I knew I wasn't going to get one. With the 2030 and 2050 emission targets getting closer and closer, the future does not look too great. If you're not familiar with Australia's political history with climate change and are interested in learning about it (which I recommend you do), I'd definitely be picking up this book.
It was so infuriating to read. Reading about the political inaction from various leaders over the course of two decades left me feeling absolutely gutted. I think that we as Australians are quick to point the finger at other countries because their greenhouse gas emissions are much larger than ours. But if you look at greenhouse gas emissions per capita, Australia ranks higher than all of those countries, and depending on where you look ranks at least in the top 5 countries in the world. I had no idea that was the case until I did my own research earlier this year, it's not something that's presented often in the media or something students are educated on.
It's not just the government though, it's the rich and powerful climate sceptics who have their own agendas that are also contributing to this inaction. Throughout this book I often had the mental image of the pigs wearing top hats from Animal Farm when I thought of them. They're quick to back the sceptical politicians with their fortunes and shut down those who actually try to make change.
I was hoping maybe for a happy ending, but I knew I wasn't going to get one. With the 2030 and 2050 emission targets getting closer and closer, the future does not look too great. If you're not familiar with Australia's political history with climate change and are interested in learning about it (which I recommend you do), I'd definitely be picking up this book.
February 1, 2022
This is a competent, pacy, journalistic history of the making (and hijacking) of climate policy in Australia. Wilkinson outlines the main events and actors and has some deeper insight into the actors and influence of Australia's "Carbon Club". It's a great introduction to a critical subject. But, despite its strengths, it doesn't scratch very far below the surface.
September 3, 2023
A thoroughly detailed chronicle of one of the defining issues of Australian political history. Wilkinson’s deep investigative skills, coupled with her clever storytelling unravel the complexities of Australian climate policy in an enjoyable, well-paced read. Even after a decade of environmental campaigning and having worked with many of the people and organisations featured in it, I still learned a lot from this book. The Carbon Club is essential reading for anyone understandably baffled at why a country on the frontlines of climate change can’t figure out how the hell to get climate policy right.
November 21, 2020
Its great to read a book and learn things you didn't know before. Well this one did that for me. I always suspected the US fossil fuel funding for the climate change disinformation campaign but I didn't know the central role played in Australia by Hugh Morgan of Western Mining and the IPA. The right wing of the Liberal Party played a key role, but I was not aware of the work done by Cory Bernardi. John Howard started the non-policy and the result has been that Australia has walked away from meaningful climate change legislation with dire future implications. As a policy area the Government is almost at the stage of refusing to discuss it (except to attack ALP policies) and while they have a one seat margin in the Reps are unlikely to risk one or more of the National Party coal loving right wing crazies crossing the floor. How things could have been different if they had a comfortable ten seat majority?.
February 18, 2021
Finally! A terrific book about the history of Australian politics, that doesn't assume you are an expert in politics with extensive background knowledge. The book begins in the time of the liberal party under John Howard, in the 90s. The infamous Kyoto Protocol in the climate convention of 1997 is upcoming, and American climate sceptics have flown to Australia, in their effort to attempt to cancel the event. Climate change is new on the scene of politics and the science of its effects are up and coming. The key takeaway is that the Howard government agreed with the science of climate change, however refused to cut greenhouse gas emission levels if it were a cost to the economy. This would be later known as the 'no regrets' policy. The Howard government attempted to introduce a carbon tax, in an effort to deratify the kyoto protocol responsibilities, allowing fossil fuel companies which funded the liberal party to be in the best possible situation. The Howard government managed to negotiate an extremely weak target under the Kyoto Protocol, as other rich countries agreed to reduce their carbon emissions to 15% of 1990 levels, Australia would cap their emissions at an 8-11% increase from 1990 levels. Australia decided to back Bush in deratifying the Kyoto agreement which was an outrage, however they would stick to their emissions target. However, the day after this news 9/11 occurred and everyone forgot about it. The climate movement was shook up, when Al Gore produced a film on the future outlook due to the damage on climate change. The public were now invested and pressure from the banks changed Howard's mind to attempt to introduce climate measures. These efforts were too late as Howard lost the '07 election which was the first 'climate change' election.
At this time, the scientist Hoegh-Guldberg produced a ground-breaking scientific paper commenting on the impact of climate change on the Great Barrier Reef (GBR). From this article, zoning of fishing was put in place to protect the impact of the GBR on the tourism industry. During climate conventions, developing countries argued that they should not be required to reduce their emissions, as they had not prospered as much as developed countries in the industrial revolution, and wanted the chance to develop their economies. Large mining and energy companies, known as the Carbon Club, begun pushing the idea that capping carbon emissions, was just 'another tax'. Rudd initially committed to a 5% emissions reduction by 2020, however he backflipped on this commitment, and committed to an 25% reduction of emissions by 2020, in order to early more allies from The Greens, as he was being attacked for his Carbon Pollution Reduction Scheme (CPRS). Labour are still in power, however over in the liberal party, Abbott was able to destabilise the current head of the party, Malcolm Turnbull, by instigating a public movement to call local MPs about their issues with his climate change policy. Whilst the major polluters, China and India, were not agreeing to cap their emissions, Obama managed to gate crash a private meeting between the nations at a climate change convention, which finally lead to an emission capping plan agreed to between China and the US. A major destabilisation of climate change science occurred in this period, as emails were leaked between two American climate science professors, in which their wording was misinterpreted and lead to attacks by climate sceptics. On an entirely different note, the Rudd government fell due to the leaking of Rudd's plan to delay his CPRS until after the 2013 election. The leak is thought to have likely been none other than... Julia Gillard.
Julia Gillard rose to power by promising the public that she would not introduce a carbon tax, however she negotiated with The Greens, who's support she required to be in power of the country, to implement a carbon tax. Yes, she directly lied to the public. During initial flaming from the public, the party had planned to term it a 'carbon price', however Gillard quickly conceded that it was indeed a tax. Abbott then spearheaded a movement called 'Ju-liar'. Under the Gillard government, which was not doing much effort to reduce emissions, Gina Richthard sold her investments in the Central Queensland mine basin to Indian investors, which made her the richest person in the country. The Greens also eventually agreed with labour to compensate power stations for the carbon tax. Julia Gillard then agreed to have more coal transported across the GBR. The Gillard government was overthrown at the next election, due to the prime ministers lack of honesty, as she had lied about the implementation of a carbon tax to the public.
Now Tony Abbott is in charge, and he wanted to abolish the renewables energy target introduced by labour. He did not have enough seats in the senate, so he compromised on reducing it to 33 TWh from 44 TWh. Joe Hockey then soon announced cuts to the budget, which were seen as lies comparable to Gillard's, as he had promised not to introduce cuts if he were elected. The liberal government had managed to successfully abolish the carbon tax by making a deal with the Palmer United Party (PUP). Obama and then Chinese Prime Minister Xi soon made an agreement to tackle carbon emissions before the upcoming Paris Climate Change Summit. The Adani mine development (Some of the stake sold by Richthard) was now in danger due to the potential of the reef been listed as a 'world heritage site in danger' by the UN, as a result of the increased movement of coal across the GBR initiated by Gillard, and the plans to develop mines in the Galilee Basin (Central Queensland stake sold by Richthard). Under mounting public pressure, Abbot agreed to increase his emissions target to a reduction of 26-28%. Frydenberg, an MP for climate science, developed a policy to aim for a 26% renewables target by 2030, however it was blocked by Abbott. This was the main downfall of the Abbott government, and allowed Turnbull to take power.
With Turnbull as head of the country, two back-to-back coral bleaching events occurred in early 2017, which saw about 50% of the GBR's coral die. Turnbull was soon ousted out of power by climate sceptics within the party, for which Scott Morrison rose to the head of the party.
Scott Morrison quickly asserted his interests as 'Keeping electricity prices down', for which he had no interest in where the electricity was coming from, renewable or not. Bill Shorten of the Labour Party challenged him in the following election, however was unsuccessful as he failed to drive home to the population of Queensland, that inaction of climate change would damage them in the long run, as they all voted liberal in fear of losing jobs. Morrison denied the need to act on climate change until the 2019-2020 bushfires, in which he finally found his voice, accepting the science of climate change
At this time, the scientist Hoegh-Guldberg produced a ground-breaking scientific paper commenting on the impact of climate change on the Great Barrier Reef (GBR). From this article, zoning of fishing was put in place to protect the impact of the GBR on the tourism industry. During climate conventions, developing countries argued that they should not be required to reduce their emissions, as they had not prospered as much as developed countries in the industrial revolution, and wanted the chance to develop their economies. Large mining and energy companies, known as the Carbon Club, begun pushing the idea that capping carbon emissions, was just 'another tax'. Rudd initially committed to a 5% emissions reduction by 2020, however he backflipped on this commitment, and committed to an 25% reduction of emissions by 2020, in order to early more allies from The Greens, as he was being attacked for his Carbon Pollution Reduction Scheme (CPRS). Labour are still in power, however over in the liberal party, Abbott was able to destabilise the current head of the party, Malcolm Turnbull, by instigating a public movement to call local MPs about their issues with his climate change policy. Whilst the major polluters, China and India, were not agreeing to cap their emissions, Obama managed to gate crash a private meeting between the nations at a climate change convention, which finally lead to an emission capping plan agreed to between China and the US. A major destabilisation of climate change science occurred in this period, as emails were leaked between two American climate science professors, in which their wording was misinterpreted and lead to attacks by climate sceptics. On an entirely different note, the Rudd government fell due to the leaking of Rudd's plan to delay his CPRS until after the 2013 election. The leak is thought to have likely been none other than... Julia Gillard.
Julia Gillard rose to power by promising the public that she would not introduce a carbon tax, however she negotiated with The Greens, who's support she required to be in power of the country, to implement a carbon tax. Yes, she directly lied to the public. During initial flaming from the public, the party had planned to term it a 'carbon price', however Gillard quickly conceded that it was indeed a tax. Abbott then spearheaded a movement called 'Ju-liar'. Under the Gillard government, which was not doing much effort to reduce emissions, Gina Richthard sold her investments in the Central Queensland mine basin to Indian investors, which made her the richest person in the country. The Greens also eventually agreed with labour to compensate power stations for the carbon tax. Julia Gillard then agreed to have more coal transported across the GBR. The Gillard government was overthrown at the next election, due to the prime ministers lack of honesty, as she had lied about the implementation of a carbon tax to the public.
Now Tony Abbott is in charge, and he wanted to abolish the renewables energy target introduced by labour. He did not have enough seats in the senate, so he compromised on reducing it to 33 TWh from 44 TWh. Joe Hockey then soon announced cuts to the budget, which were seen as lies comparable to Gillard's, as he had promised not to introduce cuts if he were elected. The liberal government had managed to successfully abolish the carbon tax by making a deal with the Palmer United Party (PUP). Obama and then Chinese Prime Minister Xi soon made an agreement to tackle carbon emissions before the upcoming Paris Climate Change Summit. The Adani mine development (Some of the stake sold by Richthard) was now in danger due to the potential of the reef been listed as a 'world heritage site in danger' by the UN, as a result of the increased movement of coal across the GBR initiated by Gillard, and the plans to develop mines in the Galilee Basin (Central Queensland stake sold by Richthard). Under mounting public pressure, Abbot agreed to increase his emissions target to a reduction of 26-28%. Frydenberg, an MP for climate science, developed a policy to aim for a 26% renewables target by 2030, however it was blocked by Abbott. This was the main downfall of the Abbott government, and allowed Turnbull to take power.
With Turnbull as head of the country, two back-to-back coral bleaching events occurred in early 2017, which saw about 50% of the GBR's coral die. Turnbull was soon ousted out of power by climate sceptics within the party, for which Scott Morrison rose to the head of the party.
Scott Morrison quickly asserted his interests as 'Keeping electricity prices down', for which he had no interest in where the electricity was coming from, renewable or not. Bill Shorten of the Labour Party challenged him in the following election, however was unsuccessful as he failed to drive home to the population of Queensland, that inaction of climate change would damage them in the long run, as they all voted liberal in fear of losing jobs. Morrison denied the need to act on climate change until the 2019-2020 bushfires, in which he finally found his voice, accepting the science of climate change
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
June 16, 2024
Frankly, a rather scary book cataloguing the scheming and connivance of a group of powerful men (they pretty much all appeared to be men) to delay, frustrate, derail the attempts to introduce curbs to Australia's use of fossil fuels. And the consequent increase in anthropogenic greenhouse gases in the atmosphere. It's hard not to feel anger at the individuals involved who opposed the scientific consensus and acted more or less as climate change terrorists. "'There is a particular constituency, and they tend to be men of a certain age group who are ferociously opposed to the concept of anthropogenic climate change,' said Turnbull. 'Maurice Newman is a good example. And it's weird. You take a guy like Hugh Morgan, who either is an engineer or used to employ hundreds of engineers, and who understands making decisions on the best available science. Yet they've got this massive scientific consensus on climate and they say, “No it’s all wrong”.
How did they come to these conclusions: What would Maurice Newman seriously know about climate science? And I think it's very clear now that he and his ilk were profoundly wrong ....though I haven't heard any apologies for their crimes against our climate.
And some of the scientists have to be tarred with the same brush. I've read Ian Plimer's book "Heaven and Earth: Global Warming and the missing science". It's maddeningly self assured and just cherry picks data. Even my own cousin (a geologist and friend of Plimer) agrees that it's poorly written. Yet it is also persuasive because it's written by a "scientist" and reinforces the prejudices of people who already had their own beliefs that climate change was "all crap". Plimer's basic technique was to say: the earth has had high CO2 levels in the past but at the same time glaciers in Europe covered the land.......or similar claims. When one examined Plimers claims its became apparent that elsewhere in the world there had been drastic warming etc. It's really hard to find any consistent narrative in Plimer's book....it's a grab bag of anecdotes, cherry picked to support his claim and ignores anything that does not support his claims. It seems to me that Plimer had a massive impact on his local Adelaide politician Nick Minchin and Minchin was smart and extremely influential because he was recognised as being smart.. How could he be so wrong after his "deep dive" into the subject. I suspect it was partly his background as a lawyer (and a self confidence in his own ability to "master the brief" but lacking a real understanding of science and scientific methoology). But maybe something else:..... Michael Shermer, author of "The believing Brain" suggests that beliefs come first and then the brain looks for confirming instances or evidence (and discounts no-confirming evidence).
There is a lot of information in the book....in fact it reads almost like a blow by blow account of all the politics in Australia over about 15 years.
Here are a few extracts that caught my attention:
"The head of the US Frontiers of Freedom foundation, Malcolm Wallop, had flown in to open the Countdown to Kyoto conference. On that wintery day in August 1997 Wallop had one aim-to ignite a provocative debate on whether the world really needed a new global agreement to protect the planet from climate change.
A retired senator from Big Horn, Wyoming, Wallop was a Republican A-lister who counted the party's grandee, Dick Cheney, among his good friends. Wallop was the founder of the Frontiers of Freedom and it was supported by some of the wealthiest men in America. Its dollars were helping to bankroll this Canberra show.........Wallop's partner and co-host that morning was one of the most divisive businessmen in Australia, Hugh Morgan. Charming, eccentric and highly influential, Morgan was a doyen of the Melbourne Liberal Party establishment and the ideological godfather of the Australian Right. He ran Western Mining, one of the biggest companies in the country, sat on the Reserve Bank board and had the ear of the prime minister, John Howard.
Frontiers of Freedom, it turned out, was happy to help. [Finance the Canberra Conference]. Global warming was a hot issue in Washington and plenty of lobbyists and think tanks wanted to get in on the action. Wallop arrived in Canberra with Hagel and a small group of heavy-hitting climate-science sceptics who had advised the senator. They included Dr Pat Michaels, whose blistering attacks on the world's top climatologists had just earned him a cover story in New Scientist magazine.
Turnbull was also boxed in by the Coalition party room, where the climate sceptics effectively exercised a veto over policy. By rough estimates, at least one-third of Turnbull's cabinet and a third of partyroom members were climate sceptics..... Former western Sydney Liberal MP and Turnbull ally Craig Laundy explained there were two types of sceptics in the federal party room. There was, he said, The sceptic in that they don't believe it's real. And there's a sceptic that thinks it's dumb politics to do anything in the space.
There was one big change. In the weeks after the fires, Morrison, who couldn't talk about climate change on his first outing as prime minister, now found his voice. He and his ministers scrambled to distance themselves from high-profile backbench sceptics like Craig Kelly and their former leader, Tony Abbott. The government was now promoting 'climate action'. The loud cheerleaders of the carbon club-the Murdoch-media commentators, the radio shock jocks and the IPA's experts who had championed the sceptic cause for decades-were suddenly kicked to the kerb. In 2020, arguing over the science was seen as a political dead end.
........ A few weeks later even the main business lobby, the Business Council of Australia, under pressure from its members, called for a price on carbon. It also called for Australia to transition to net zero emissions by 2050. Some 70 countries had already made a similar commitment.
One might conclude that the Carbon club has had its day and its members have retreated in disrepute. But no. The current leader of the Liberal Party, Peter Dutton, is trying to whip up enthusiasm for cancelling Australia's commitment to the targets agreed in Paris. It's hard to escape the view that the beliefs of the carbon club are closely hitched to the individual pecuniary interests in fossil fuel. That would not be unusual except for the fact that those denying climate change due to anthropogenic fossil fuel burning are most vociferous in denying the science, the importance, the time frames, the targets...anything it seems rather than acknowledge that they stand to lose cash if controls are placed on Carbon Dioxide.
I liked the book, I knew a fair bit of it but not the linkages between right wing politicians and businesspeople in America and Australia. And not the details. Though the detail maybe became a bit boring at times. Still four stars from me.
How did they come to these conclusions: What would Maurice Newman seriously know about climate science? And I think it's very clear now that he and his ilk were profoundly wrong ....though I haven't heard any apologies for their crimes against our climate.
And some of the scientists have to be tarred with the same brush. I've read Ian Plimer's book "Heaven and Earth: Global Warming and the missing science". It's maddeningly self assured and just cherry picks data. Even my own cousin (a geologist and friend of Plimer) agrees that it's poorly written. Yet it is also persuasive because it's written by a "scientist" and reinforces the prejudices of people who already had their own beliefs that climate change was "all crap". Plimer's basic technique was to say: the earth has had high CO2 levels in the past but at the same time glaciers in Europe covered the land.......or similar claims. When one examined Plimers claims its became apparent that elsewhere in the world there had been drastic warming etc. It's really hard to find any consistent narrative in Plimer's book....it's a grab bag of anecdotes, cherry picked to support his claim and ignores anything that does not support his claims. It seems to me that Plimer had a massive impact on his local Adelaide politician Nick Minchin and Minchin was smart and extremely influential because he was recognised as being smart.. How could he be so wrong after his "deep dive" into the subject. I suspect it was partly his background as a lawyer (and a self confidence in his own ability to "master the brief" but lacking a real understanding of science and scientific methoology). But maybe something else:..... Michael Shermer, author of "The believing Brain" suggests that beliefs come first and then the brain looks for confirming instances or evidence (and discounts no-confirming evidence).
There is a lot of information in the book....in fact it reads almost like a blow by blow account of all the politics in Australia over about 15 years.
Here are a few extracts that caught my attention:
"The head of the US Frontiers of Freedom foundation, Malcolm Wallop, had flown in to open the Countdown to Kyoto conference. On that wintery day in August 1997 Wallop had one aim-to ignite a provocative debate on whether the world really needed a new global agreement to protect the planet from climate change.
A retired senator from Big Horn, Wyoming, Wallop was a Republican A-lister who counted the party's grandee, Dick Cheney, among his good friends. Wallop was the founder of the Frontiers of Freedom and it was supported by some of the wealthiest men in America. Its dollars were helping to bankroll this Canberra show.........Wallop's partner and co-host that morning was one of the most divisive businessmen in Australia, Hugh Morgan. Charming, eccentric and highly influential, Morgan was a doyen of the Melbourne Liberal Party establishment and the ideological godfather of the Australian Right. He ran Western Mining, one of the biggest companies in the country, sat on the Reserve Bank board and had the ear of the prime minister, John Howard.
Frontiers of Freedom, it turned out, was happy to help. [Finance the Canberra Conference]. Global warming was a hot issue in Washington and plenty of lobbyists and think tanks wanted to get in on the action. Wallop arrived in Canberra with Hagel and a small group of heavy-hitting climate-science sceptics who had advised the senator. They included Dr Pat Michaels, whose blistering attacks on the world's top climatologists had just earned him a cover story in New Scientist magazine.
Turnbull was also boxed in by the Coalition party room, where the climate sceptics effectively exercised a veto over policy. By rough estimates, at least one-third of Turnbull's cabinet and a third of partyroom members were climate sceptics..... Former western Sydney Liberal MP and Turnbull ally Craig Laundy explained there were two types of sceptics in the federal party room. There was, he said, The sceptic in that they don't believe it's real. And there's a sceptic that thinks it's dumb politics to do anything in the space.
There was one big change. In the weeks after the fires, Morrison, who couldn't talk about climate change on his first outing as prime minister, now found his voice. He and his ministers scrambled to distance themselves from high-profile backbench sceptics like Craig Kelly and their former leader, Tony Abbott. The government was now promoting 'climate action'. The loud cheerleaders of the carbon club-the Murdoch-media commentators, the radio shock jocks and the IPA's experts who had championed the sceptic cause for decades-were suddenly kicked to the kerb. In 2020, arguing over the science was seen as a political dead end.
........ A few weeks later even the main business lobby, the Business Council of Australia, under pressure from its members, called for a price on carbon. It also called for Australia to transition to net zero emissions by 2050. Some 70 countries had already made a similar commitment.
One might conclude that the Carbon club has had its day and its members have retreated in disrepute. But no. The current leader of the Liberal Party, Peter Dutton, is trying to whip up enthusiasm for cancelling Australia's commitment to the targets agreed in Paris. It's hard to escape the view that the beliefs of the carbon club are closely hitched to the individual pecuniary interests in fossil fuel. That would not be unusual except for the fact that those denying climate change due to anthropogenic fossil fuel burning are most vociferous in denying the science, the importance, the time frames, the targets...anything it seems rather than acknowledge that they stand to lose cash if controls are placed on Carbon Dioxide.
I liked the book, I knew a fair bit of it but not the linkages between right wing politicians and businesspeople in America and Australia. And not the details. Though the detail maybe became a bit boring at times. Still four stars from me.
November 16, 2020
It was one of the pleasures of life as a full-time student around 40 years ago, to spend Sunday morning purchasing and reading The National Times. I tried to teach my cat to read it at one point but to no avail.
Marian Wilkinson was one of many journalists who produced excellent research and writing for this publication. Here, she recounts the story of climate change policy in Australia over the past decades.
I must admit that aspects of what passes for climate change debate, perhaps any debate at all, in this country are bewildering as far as claims made and the people making those claims. Climate change has always been an interest, back to the issues about pollution and degradation of nature, and I was walking down a main street of Melbourne in 1974 when it camr ro me that climate change was already occurting: this had to do with rising lower temperatures more than anything else, but other events as well.
Wilkinson's book deals with Australian politics as well as the influence of climate sceptic groups, predominantly from the US and really a continuation of issues regarding pollution and degradation caused by corporations, whether mining or elsewhere.
One of the interesting things this book demonstrates is how much of public discourse is based on a particular view of debating (Bryan Dorries demonstrates this regarding Classical Greek culture and there are others) which is that the main aim is to win, to score a point, not to actually say anything relevant or truthful. In this context, we meet several Australian politicians in operation today who appear disinterested in actually saying anything useful or worthy of discussion.
These people are separate from the climate sceptics identified throughout the book. I'm still bewildered as to why Lord Monckton provided any credibility to the sceptic case, but then the usual tropes about world government and various tribulations or control mechanisms, otiginating in colonial America and elaborated on since.
Another thing the book brings to mind is that when a company or corporate group makes a statement on anything, including this topic, that it may simply be defending their turf and their investments. What others might expect to be a norm as far as interest in others or the welfare of their workers is less clear, to say the least.
The author also identifies a core component of the world of politics which is to win the next election and perhaps to demonise the opposition. It doesn't matter what is said. Some brief statements from Scott Morrison in 2019 are an example and the Green decision to convoy up to Clermont in Queensland in the same election campaign might be anther kind of folly, one which implies a righteousness of some kind, which is somewhat disappointing.
The author actually presents us with a range of people who might be bullies or blusterers, or wilfully ignorant, or without much understanding of either negotiation or personality and I wonder of things might have been different if experts in fields in addition to economics and the sciences were consulted, although that would have implied serious intent.
This is an excellent history of climate policy in Australia and also provides insights into both sceptic movements overseas as well as meetings like Paris and Copenhagen. It was easy to tead, but a bit troubling to encounter once again some og the worst aspects of thought and leadership in political and corporate Australia.
Marian Wilkinson was one of many journalists who produced excellent research and writing for this publication. Here, she recounts the story of climate change policy in Australia over the past decades.
I must admit that aspects of what passes for climate change debate, perhaps any debate at all, in this country are bewildering as far as claims made and the people making those claims. Climate change has always been an interest, back to the issues about pollution and degradation of nature, and I was walking down a main street of Melbourne in 1974 when it camr ro me that climate change was already occurting: this had to do with rising lower temperatures more than anything else, but other events as well.
Wilkinson's book deals with Australian politics as well as the influence of climate sceptic groups, predominantly from the US and really a continuation of issues regarding pollution and degradation caused by corporations, whether mining or elsewhere.
One of the interesting things this book demonstrates is how much of public discourse is based on a particular view of debating (Bryan Dorries demonstrates this regarding Classical Greek culture and there are others) which is that the main aim is to win, to score a point, not to actually say anything relevant or truthful. In this context, we meet several Australian politicians in operation today who appear disinterested in actually saying anything useful or worthy of discussion.
These people are separate from the climate sceptics identified throughout the book. I'm still bewildered as to why Lord Monckton provided any credibility to the sceptic case, but then the usual tropes about world government and various tribulations or control mechanisms, otiginating in colonial America and elaborated on since.
Another thing the book brings to mind is that when a company or corporate group makes a statement on anything, including this topic, that it may simply be defending their turf and their investments. What others might expect to be a norm as far as interest in others or the welfare of their workers is less clear, to say the least.
The author also identifies a core component of the world of politics which is to win the next election and perhaps to demonise the opposition. It doesn't matter what is said. Some brief statements from Scott Morrison in 2019 are an example and the Green decision to convoy up to Clermont in Queensland in the same election campaign might be anther kind of folly, one which implies a righteousness of some kind, which is somewhat disappointing.
The author actually presents us with a range of people who might be bullies or blusterers, or wilfully ignorant, or without much understanding of either negotiation or personality and I wonder of things might have been different if experts in fields in addition to economics and the sciences were consulted, although that would have implied serious intent.
This is an excellent history of climate policy in Australia and also provides insights into both sceptic movements overseas as well as meetings like Paris and Copenhagen. It was easy to tead, but a bit troubling to encounter once again some og the worst aspects of thought and leadership in political and corporate Australia.
December 3, 2022
NOVEMBER
by Marian Wilkinson (no photo)Finish date: November 2022
Genre: non-fiction
Rating: B
Review: The Carbon Club (ISBN: 9781760875996)
Bad news: I missed any signs of “hard-hitting investigative reporting,” The book felt like I was reading a series of articles from the newspaper…cut and dry facts.
Bad news: 85% Australian party politics…15% analysis climate change.
Bad news: Very detailed account of many climate sceptics in government. Perhaps this is more interesting for readers in Australia who know all these AUS politicians ….but not for me. This tactic to quash any “cap and trade” for CO2 emissions by Carbon Club members happened in many countries….especially in USA.
Good News: You have to read 18 chapters to finally get to the good news!
Australian politicians have been fighting climate wars fuelled by the Carbon Club (Coal, LNG production, Rio Tinto mines, brown coal-fuelled thermal power stations like Hazelwood)). But…the Carbon Club is breaking up as the climate crisis becomes more urgent!
Good news: Ms Wilkinson exposes the collusion of business and politics.
Good news: Ms Wilkinson takes us back to the Kyoto Climate Agreement (1997-2000).
NOW, I know why GW Bush was "chosen" as president by Supreme Court beating the climate conscious Al Gore: Exxon and other fossil fuel giants wanted NO green deals of environment restrictions. NOW we are paying the price of that foolish decision!
Good news: I learned that AUS and USA work in similar ways.
Conservatives are funded by Koch Brothers in US and in AUS they are funded by the Cormack Foundation.
Tony Abbott = Australia’s Trump
Personal: While reading this book it is again abundantly clear politicians (Australia) think they can brush climate science aside to satisfy Carbon Club members…but that doesn’t make it go away!
Personal: No matter what the subject of a book is ….I ALWAYS learn something! This time I learned that the Minerals Council of Australia is one of the top 10 foreign trade organizaitons who claim that adding CO2 to the atmosphere would be good for the planet. WT*?
8 groups are in the USA (…and they ALL want Trump re-elected!!), one in Canada and one in Japan.
Personal: I am amazed as to what lengths climate sceptics (Carbon Club) will go to to convince the world they are right! Tony Abbot gave a “sacrificing goats” speech in London 2017. “…we are sacrificing our industries and way of living to the climate gods.” “It’s the spirit of the inquisition.” (Pg 258). This is utter nonsense! I thought Australians were sensible …..but after reading this book about Australia's foot dragging in addressing climate change…I am not so sure anymore. Are corporate profits (coal) worth months of intense bushfires, heat waves, floods, major bleaching of the coral reefs and drought? Fortunately the world..the younger generation is waking up and will decide climate policy in the future ….not implacable business and mining CEO’s (Clive Palmer) and media moguls (Rupert Murdoch)
January 15, 2021
It’s always hard reading a book about the history of climate policy because you kind of know the ending. I can only hope there is a sequel with a better outcome. Similar to Nathanial Rich’s Losing Earth, which discussed the history of climate science and policy inaction in the US, The Carbon Club takes a more modern look at Australia. We skip a lot of the stuff about the science, how it was discovered and built upon, and the IPCC, and head straight to Kyoto to show the moment Australia got into bed with US and vowed to be climate inaction BFFs. Which seems fitting, after all no one in their right mind these days is denying the science.
In a beautifully digestible narrative, Marianne Wilkinson exposes the politicians, climate sceptics and big business who bandied together to ensure that no climate action policy would ever pass in Australia. It is wonderfully written and supremely frustrating. To see the efforts of so many politicians go to waste, to have their careers smashed, to have millions of dollars of tax payer’s money wasted by Tony Abbott’s government as they threw away all of Labour’s work was just infuriating and extremely upsetting. This is a book full of important information for anyone with the right to vote in Australia. Read it.
In a beautifully digestible narrative, Marianne Wilkinson exposes the politicians, climate sceptics and big business who bandied together to ensure that no climate action policy would ever pass in Australia. It is wonderfully written and supremely frustrating. To see the efforts of so many politicians go to waste, to have their careers smashed, to have millions of dollars of tax payer’s money wasted by Tony Abbott’s government as they threw away all of Labour’s work was just infuriating and extremely upsetting. This is a book full of important information for anyone with the right to vote in Australia. Read it.
November 21, 2020
A comprehensive account of climate change politics in Australia. This is a painstakingly researched name-and-shame, which identifies the fat cats from the mining industries who have prevented the implementation of any meaningful carbon emissions policy in Australia. The immorality of their actions makes for shocking reading, considering that these rich execs and right-wing lobbyists will not be around to suffer the catastrophic and irreversible impacts of climate change, to which they are condemning future generations.
But this is also the story of the ranks of scientists, economists, business leaders, public servants and politicians who continue to fight for an ambitious policy to curb Australia’s carbon emissions. While both major political parties remain paralysed by the climate change issue, Wilkinson suggests that Australia’s switch to renewables may well be business-led and civilian-led rather than governmental. In this way The Carbon Club transforms a somewhat depressing premise into an invaluable and galvanising resource for anyone committed to climate change action.
But this is also the story of the ranks of scientists, economists, business leaders, public servants and politicians who continue to fight for an ambitious policy to curb Australia’s carbon emissions. While both major political parties remain paralysed by the climate change issue, Wilkinson suggests that Australia’s switch to renewables may well be business-led and civilian-led rather than governmental. In this way The Carbon Club transforms a somewhat depressing premise into an invaluable and galvanising resource for anyone committed to climate change action.
December 19, 2020
Compelling, accessible, comprehensive. Balancing effective storytelling with a Four Corners-esque level of thorough research, this history of Australia's pathetic response to climate change since the early 2000s is want-to-turn-away-but-can't levels of compelling.
The peppered anecdotes and individual experiences - eg the meeting with Coalition backbenchers where a world renowned climate scientist gets the giggles and the stories of the heroic lobbying of Howard Ministers by former senior leaders in Department of Environment - are evocative and fascinating, providing real insight into the players and the plays that lead us to where we are now.
I was originally unsure about the chapters focusing on the Great Barrier Reef specifically. But by the third chapter on the reef, which so clearly sets out the specific horrific consequences of climate change for the reef, I was in tears of rage.
This is the best book I've read in 2020. I've never been so angry.
The peppered anecdotes and individual experiences - eg the meeting with Coalition backbenchers where a world renowned climate scientist gets the giggles and the stories of the heroic lobbying of Howard Ministers by former senior leaders in Department of Environment - are evocative and fascinating, providing real insight into the players and the plays that lead us to where we are now.
I was originally unsure about the chapters focusing on the Great Barrier Reef specifically. But by the third chapter on the reef, which so clearly sets out the specific horrific consequences of climate change for the reef, I was in tears of rage.
This is the best book I've read in 2020. I've never been so angry.
July 7, 2024
I found this initially hard to get into: the number of unfamiliar names from the 1990s being discussed took some perseverance but it was worth it. I have found this book invaluable in understanding why we are in position we are now in Australia.
Every time I picked it up, I would ask myself 'do I feel like being sad and/or angry right now?' because that's really how I felt most of the time when reading. It's hard, as someone constantly teaching this science to kids - who are often worried and scared for their future - to read about people who willingly ignore and/or twist the facts for their own agenda.
But I definitely recommend this - very informative, nicely written. I was worried about following all the names of politicians and what not, but Wilkinson made it pretty easy.
Every time I picked it up, I would ask myself 'do I feel like being sad and/or angry right now?' because that's really how I felt most of the time when reading. It's hard, as someone constantly teaching this science to kids - who are often worried and scared for their future - to read about people who willingly ignore and/or twist the facts for their own agenda.
But I definitely recommend this - very informative, nicely written. I was worried about following all the names of politicians and what not, but Wilkinson made it pretty easy.
March 21, 2021
A thorough historical look at Australia's climate policy failures that doesn't just focus on politician's bad takes and policies but as well the influence of fossil fuel lobbyists and billionaire funded think tanks can have. There's so many people to point the finger of blame at and TCC is one of the most thorough works on documenting the evil of the LNP, the IPA, fossil fuel billionaires/executives and the occasional bad labor and greens pollies. Wilkinson does a great job at laying out the finer details rarely covered in news reporting of climate policy and outlays the many people that were/are complicit in destroying the world's future.
April 2, 2021
This is a meticulously researched and told book but what a depressing read. Australia came close to having a policy that would have done something in terms of decreasing our carbon output several times but thanks to a small group of self interested wealthy elites, each moment was stolen. The calibre and intelligence of the group of people that run the politics of this country comes sharply into question in this book. It was worthwhile to read to remind myself of the journey that Australia has been on and thus to reinforce the futility of putting ones hope in our governments for taking worthwhile action.
October 17, 2021
3.5 stars. Overall a good book. I found it a dense read at times, trying to keep track of names and events, some I remembered, some I didn't. It can leave a sense of defeatism (though possibly not the intention) around Australia's chances of making meaningful progress on climate change when you see how targeted efforts of the few can derail the benefits to the collective. Perhaps the more we're aware of spin and motivations behind arguments, the better prepared we'll be to critically evaluate and not buy into the fear-mongering against climate action.
June 2, 2023
A really good journalistic investigation into WHY Australia has been so slow to seriously tackle the impending climate emergency. It looks at the players behind the scenes influencing our governments, policy, laws - who is really behind the climate wars in Australia, and how they have managed to stop or slow any real response for decades. It names and shames - the key players in the Carbon Club are outlined with evidence and authority and a complex story is told well and clearly in the way that only the best investigative journalists can do.
April 22, 2021
Excellent book and so interesting. There were parts I found hard to follow but otherwise well laid out.
I bought both the print version and the audio book. The narrator on the audio book did "voices" for some of the people featured in the book, such as Tony Abbott, and this was incredibly irritating and distracting. Obviously this doesn't reflect on the content but thought it was worth including.
I bought both the print version and the audio book. The narrator on the audio book did "voices" for some of the people featured in the book, such as Tony Abbott, and this was incredibly irritating and distracting. Obviously this doesn't reflect on the content but thought it was worth including.
May 6, 2021
I knew Australia had been underwhelming in its climate response over the past few decades but didn't realise how deep the rot went.
This book follows the myopic tragedy of the Australian political response to climate change.
It covers big corporate manipulation, cronyism and incredulous misinterpretation of the science. Worse is that isn't a history, this climate change denial still happens today.
This book follows the myopic tragedy of the Australian political response to climate change.
It covers big corporate manipulation, cronyism and incredulous misinterpretation of the science. Worse is that isn't a history, this climate change denial still happens today.
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