By Keith Antonysen

Projects such as Adani, along with new enterprises such as Scarborough gas field (methane) and Beetaloo fracking site in Australia; and Jackdaw in Great Britain close any chance of reaching 1.5C by 2030. There are several other major fossil fuel projects being considered. As the IEA and IPCC say, the fossil fuels need to stay underground.

The IEA as quoted by the Climate Council states: ”THERE CAN BE no new coal, oil or gas projects if the global energy sector is to reach net zero emissions by 2050 and help avoid catastrophic climate change, the International Energy Agency (IEA) has shown in a new report.”

The IPCC states in April 2022 … “In the scenarios we assessed, limiting warming to around 1.5°C (2.7°F) requires global greenhouse gas emissions to peak before 2025 at the latest, and be reduced by 43% by 2030; at the same time, methane would also need to be reduced by about a third. Even if we do this, it is almost inevitable that we will temporarily exceed this temperature threshold but could return to below it by the end of the century.”

In Australia, the Bowen Basin coal mines are emitting as much methane as the carbon foot print of a middle-sized European country such as Austria. The mines involved dispute the satellite figures, the LNP government at the time was not interested. Fossil fuel Corporations have a history of green washing, the reliability of anything emanating from the former LNP government on anything to do with climate is worth checking exceptionally closely.

Should the Scarborough gas field development in Western Australia and the Beetaloo fracking project in the Northern Territory go ahead, then Labor’s 43% emission reduction goal is smashed. As shown Labor’s 43% emissions reduction has already knocked over by the emissions displayed by satellite technology in the Bowen Basin. Nature does not understand how responsibility for fossil fuel emissions are placed on the countries creating emissions, and not on the countries mining the fossil fuels.

Aboriginals are very concerned about artefacts thousands of years old being damaged through the development of the Scarborough gas field. Aboriginals are also very concerned about the Beetaloo project.

At current levels of emissions from around the World we are on track to reach the limit of the carbon budget in ten years.

If the wish is to increase global temperature above 1.5C, then continuation of Scarborough and Beetaloo projects will provide that increase. Already the possibility of minimising 1.5C in global warming is quite remote.

Weeks ago an article about carbon bombs discussed 195 major projects around Earth that place the live-ability on Earth in jeopardy; the Scarborough and Beetaloo can be considered to be carbon bombs.

The Scarborough gas field, and Beetaloo fracking projects equal short-term gain, though creating long term misery for young people. Heat stroke will increase, serious mosquito borne diseases will become more prominent, food shortages created by amplified extreme events will be experienced, climate-based refugees will increase, biodiversity on which we rely will be diminished; just some of the impacts of ignoring Earth’s carbon budget. Once the carbon budget has been overshot we can expect a breakdown of civil society.