TheClimate Commission was an independent body established in 2011 by theGovernment of Australia to communicate "reliable and authoritative information" aboutclimate change in Australia. Abolished by the newly elected LNP government led by Prime MinisterTony Abbott in September 2013,[1] it was relaunched as an independent non-profit organisation called theClimate Council.
The Climate Commission was announced by theGillard Labor government in February 2011.[2] The chief commissioner was ProfessorTim Flannery, and other commissioners included ProfessorVeena Sahajwalla, Professor Lesley Hughes, ProfessorWill Steffen,Roger Beale, and Gerry Hueston. The commission was projected to cost $5.4 million over four years.
The Commission released a number of reports on climate change science, health impacts, international action and renewable energy, as well as holding public events around Australia.
The Critical Decade,[3] the commission's first report, summarised the current state of climate science, the likely impacts and the urgency for action. The report found:
The third and final chapter of the report uses a budget approach to estimate the level of greenhouse gas emissions reductions required to keep global temperature below 2 degrees. The budget approach looks at the amount of additional greenhouse gas emissions over a period and calculates the likelihood of a particular temperature rise. For example, to have a 75% change of keeping temperature increase to below 2 degrees, the world can emit no more than 1000 gigatonnes of carbon dioxide between 2000 and 2050.
The report was reviewed favourably by leading Australian climate scientists, including ProfessorDavid Karoly, ProfessorOve Hoegh-Guldberg and Professor Steven Sherwood.[4]
The Climate Commission was abolished in September 2013 by the newly electedAbbott Liberal government, as a stated streamlining and cost-cutting measure.[1][5] Less than a week later the commission was relaunched as an independent non-profit organisation called theClimate Council, which was to be fully funded by public donations.[6][7]
