The Climate Commission was an independent body established in 2011 by the

Government of Australia The Australian Government, also known as the Commonwealth Government, is the national government of Australia, a federalism, federal parliamentary system, parliamentary constitutional monarchy. Like other Westminster system, Westminster-sty ...

to communicate "reliable and authoritative information" about

climate change in Australia Climate change in Australia has been a critical issue since the beginning of the 21st century. Australia is becoming hotter and more prone to extreme heat, bushfires, droughts, floods, and longer fire seasons because of climate change. Since th ...

. Abolished by the newly elected LNP government led by Prime Minister

Tony Abbott Anthony John Abbott (; born 4 November 1957) is a former Australian politician who served as the 28th prime minister of Australia from 2013 to 2015. He held office as the leader of the Liberal Party of Australia. Abbott was born in Londo ...

in September 2013, it was relaunched as an independent non-profit organisation called the

Climate Council The Climate Council is Australia's leading climate change communications non-profit organisation formed to provide independent, authoritative information on climate change and its solutions to the Australian public. It advocates reducing greenho ...

Formation

The Climate Commission was announced by the Gillard Labor Government in February 2011. The chief commissioner was Professor

Tim Flannery Timothy Fridtjof Flannery (born 28 January 1956) is an Australian mammalogist, palaeontologist, environmentalist, Conservation biology, conservationist, Exploration, explorer, author, Science communication, science communicator, activist and p ...

, and other commissioners included Professor

Veena Sahajwalla Veena Sahajwalla is an inventor and Professor of Materials Science in the Faculty of Science at UNSW Australia. She is the Director of the UNSW SM@RT Centre for Sustainable Materials Research and Technology and an Australian Research Council ...

, Professor Lesley Hughes, Professor

Will Steffen Will Steffen (born 1947) is an American chemist. He was the executive director of the Australian National University (ANU) Climate Change Institute and a member of the Australian Climate Commission until its dissolution in September 2013. From ...

Roger Beale Roger David Bernard Beale (born 18 December 1946) is a former senior Australian public servant and policymaker. Since retiring from the public service, Beale has continued to pursue work as an artist, having held exhibitions in galleries around ...

, and Gerry Hueston. The commission was projected to cost $5.4 million over four years.

Actions

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''

''The Critical Decade'', the commission's first report, summarised the current state of climate science, the likely impacts and the urgency for action. The report found: :"...the global climate is changing and humanity is almost surely the dominant cause. The risks have never been clearer and the case for action has never been more urgent." 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 that 1000 gigatonnes of carbon dioxide between 2000 and 2050. The report was reviewed favourably by leading Australian climate scientists, including Professor

David Karoly David John Karoly (born 1955) is an Australian atmospheric scientist, currently based at CSIRO. Education and academic career In the early 1970s David Karoly enrolled in applied mathematics at Monash University, Melbourne, but later became in ...

, Professor Ove Hoegh-Guldberg and Professor Steven Sherwood.

Abolition

The Climate Commission was abolished in September 2013 by the newly elected Abbott Liberal Government, as a stated streamlining and cost-cutting measure.Griffiths, Emma
Tim Flannery defends Climate Commission after Government scrapping
''ABC News'', 19 September 2013. Less than a week later the commission was relaunched as an independent non-profit organisation called the

, which was to be fully funded by public donations.Tim Flannery relaunches scrapped Climate Commission as community-funded body
''ABC News'', 24 September 2013.

References

{{Portal bar, Global warming, Australia Climate change organisations based in Australia 2011 establishments in Australia 2013 disestablishments in Australia Climate communication

Formation

Actions

''The Critical Decade''

Abolition

See also

References