UK Tories slam Tony Abbott on climate policy

Paola Totaro

The attitude of Prime Minister Tony Abbott to the global challenges of climate change is "eccentric", "baffling" and "flat earther", according to a group of senior British Conservatives.

The group, including Prime Minister David Cameron's Minister for Energy and a former Thatcher Minister and chairman of the Conservative Party, says Mr Abbot's position on climate change represents a betrayal of the fundamental ideals of Conservatism and those of his political heroine, Margaret Thatcher.

In a series of wide-ranging, separate interviews on UK climate change policy with The Age, they warn that Australia is taking enormous risks investing in coal and will come under increasing market and political pressure to play its part in the global battle against climate change.

Their comments come almost 25 years to the day since former British prime minister Margaret Thatcher addressed the United Nations to place climate change on the global environmental agenda. "It is mankind and his activities which are changing the environment of our planet in damaging and dangerous ways,"  she said

Mr Abbott, as recently as June, insisted he should not be stereotyped as a conventional traditionalist, declaring he wanted to be a "reforming conservative" in the mould of Mrs Thatcher.

According to Lord Deben, chairman of the independent Climate Change Commission and a minister in both the Thatcher and Major governments,  Australia will come under increasing market pressure to respond to the global shift toward renewable energy. 

A  former chairman of the British Conservative Party, Lord Deben said Mr Abbott has betrayed the fundamental tenets of conservatism itself.

 "I have no doubt that people like David Cameron will be saying to Tony Abbott 'look conservatives are supposed to conserve, they are supposed to hand on to the next generation something better than they received themselves'."

Tim Yeo, chairman of the UK's parliamentary select committee on energy and climate change and a former environment minister under John Major, likened those who question the existence and the science of climate change as "the flat earthers of the 16th century". 

"Some of us are very perplexed. I was last in Australia at the beginning of last year, before the election and had conversations with people on both sides of the political divide. I was amazed at some of the views.

 "If I was Australian, I'd be concerned if my country's economic future and prosperity became dependent on continued coal export." 

The United Kingdom led the world in 2008 by legislating for long-term, ambitious emissions reductions of 80 per cent by 2050 – and has already achieved a 25 per cent drop on 1990 levels. In June, David Cameron opened the world's largest offshore wind farm with 175 turbines in the Thames Estuary. 

Almost 20 per cent of Britain's electricity is now produced by renewables, with eight per cent powered by wind – equivalent to about 6.5 million homes. 

The UK's energy market reforms and the drive to transform the economy to a low carbon model are supported by all the major political parties. 

Greg Barker, David Cameron's Minister for Energy and Climate Change until June this year said: "I think there is a lot of concern about Australia and yes, perhaps it is disproportionate versus its place in the global economy. But because of [our] close historical, emotional and family ties, people are concerned, slightly baffled by the approach that Australia is taking which looks, actually, slightly eccentric," he said.

Mr Abbott declined to comment.

Read more: http://www.smh.com.au/federal-politics/political-news/uk-tories-slam-tony-abbott-on-climate-policy-20141120-11qos6.html#ixzz3JdpWkxO0