For Immediate Release September 14
A fuller response is also attached
38 FORMER FIRE AND EMERGENCY CHIEFS say the release of Australia’s first National Climate Risk Assessment, reveals extreme weather emergencies will continue to worsen without strong cuts to climate pollution.
The Emergency Leaders for Climate Action say the assessment gives a confronting but not surprising picture of the escalating risks climate change poses to Australians. The National Adaptation Plan intends to lay the groundwork for preparing our communities, business and emergency services for these risks.
Greg Mullins AO, AFSM, former Commissioner of Fire & Rescue NSW said: “The National Climate Risk Assessment predicts dangerous fire weather days will happen more often, with longer fire seasons and the potential for megafires in southern and eastern parts of the nation - at least until mid-century, when forested areas may start to change into grasslands.
“The world is approaching the point of no return on climate action. Only meaningful cuts to climate pollution this decade can address the worst climate risks outlined in this national report. At three degrees of warming, sea-levels would rise by one-metre, leading to 18-times more coastal flooding and up to three million Australians in coastal communities facing a high or very high risk of flooding, erosion, and inundation by 2090.
“This Risk Assessment demonstrates how urgently we need to slash climate pollution. A strong target, as close to net zero as possible, by 2035 is critical to help protect Australians and our economy from worsening climate disasters in the future.
“Australian communities also need urgent investment to adapt and prepare for supercharged weather events coming at them over and over again. The Assessment shows our emergency responders will face a greater physical and mental health burden from responding to more frequent and potentially simultaneous disasters.
“Our emergency workers, our volunteers and our communities need to be protected from the worst of the escalating dangers. We know that every dollar spent on climate change adaptation and disaster risk reduction saves between $2 and $11 in avoided recovery costs.
“This can’t just be another report that ministers read over a coffee and then try to forget about. The details are too confronting. Australians expect a strong national plan to act on this climate emergency, not a timid climate target.”
Major General Peter Dunn AO (retired), Former Commissioner, ACT Emergency Services Authority: “In 2019 we, as former emergency service leaders, tried in vain to warn the then Morrison Government of the disastrous Black Summer fires on the horizon. At the time, I had no idea that my own community, Lake Conjola in New South Wales, would be on the frontline of those fires. As the fires bore down on us with almost no warning, we lost power, water and road access. We had nowhere to evacuate, so we went to the ocean as 89 of our neighbours’ houses burned to the ground. This National Climate Risk Assessment proves that we can expect more fires like these.
“For the first time, we have a comprehensive national assessment of the climate risks we face. We cannot ignore this warning. Australians expect our political leaders to take meaningful action. That means setting the strongest possible 2035 target to cut climate pollution, but also doing all we can to prepare communities for the climate-fuelled disasters they will inevitably see in future.”
“I was part of the expert panels feeding into this report. It’s a sobering read and now no one can pretend they don’t know the risks to Australian lives and lifestyles from more frequent catastrophic climate fuelled weather events.
“Climate change has no boundaries. The pollution from fossil fuels interacts in the global atmosphere with devastating consequences for Australian communities. This Risk Assessment is a loud and thorough warning that we can’t keep approving large coal and gas projects if we want a safer future for our children and grandchildren.”
ENDS
About us:
About Emergency Leaders for Climate Action: Emergency Leaders for Climate Action (ELCA) is a coalition of 38 former fire and emergency service leaders from every Australian state and territory demanding stronger government action on climate pollution that is driving more frequent, damaging extreme weather disasters, better resourcing for climate adaptation, community resilience, and frontline fire and emergency services.
https://emergencyleadersforclimateaction.org.au/
Contact details:
For media enquiries or interviews with ELCA members please contact Jacqui Street 0498 188 528 / [email protected]