KELLIE CAUGHT
national manager of climate change policy at Wwf-australia
Nature is a critical part of our economy, our food, our health, our leisure and, ultimately, our survival, and I’m passionate about protecting it for future generations. It’s criminal that we wouldn’t do that. I have a daughter who has just turned eight. Recently, she said to me, “Why did you born me into this world where there are so many bad things?” I told her I think we have the solutions to these problems and that she can be part of that solution. I said, “One day you could grow up to be a scientist or an innovator, or even a politician who drives the change, or you can do what Mummy does and go out there to influence those decision-makers.”
We engage primarily with federal government but increasingly with state government to implement ambitious and science-based policies to transition our economy to zero carbon pollution by 2050. That goal means that, in the interim, we have to set targets to make sure we’re on track. We already have the technology to shift our electricity sector from coal to 100 per cent renewable by 2035. We’ve got wind, we’ve got solar – Australia has, per capita, the most number of PV solar power systems on houses in the world – we now just need governments to set the framework to help investors build more wind and solar farms.
Building renewable energy will be cheaper and have significantly more health benefits for the planet than coal or gas. It just makes sense. We’ve just seen the worst bleaching event that we’ve ever had on the Great Barrier Reef. There’s only been three on record and all three have happened in the past two decades. The latest saw 22 per cent of coral cover dying. And it’s all happened with the earth warming 1˚C above pre-industrial levels – we can only imagine what another half or one degree will do to places like the GBR, let alone other parts of nature, as well as hotter days, more floods, more fires that will have significant impacts on the community. It’s everybody’s issue.
“People are more productive in sustainable buildings” “Renewable energy is cheaper and has more benefits for the planet”