After two decades of refusal to acknowledge the science of climate change, change, it has taken a national bushfire tragedy for policy-makers to wake-up, writes Dr John Iser

From climate change denial to recent acceptance is a remarkable transformation which has both astonished and frustrated climate and health scientists and environmentalists. 

However, rather than outlining a comprehensive emissions reduction program, reports last week stated that the Australian Government is planning to take a “technology investment target” to the UN Summit in Glasgow later this year in an attempt to avoid signing up to a net-zero emissions target by 2050. 

If this is true, it would show there is still a long way to go on the path to redemption. 

 Acceptance of science must include acceptance that the climate is in crisis and urgent action is essential. Without this caveat, there can be no claim that “we now get climate change”.

Dr John Iser is a retired gastroenterologist and a member of Doctors for the Environment Australia

The full article was published in Independent Australia on 26 February 2020