Helicopter ride over the Great Barrier Reef. Whitsunday Islands, Australia.
Bye,bye Great Barrier Reef
Some extremely sad news coming from Australia: Australia's newly elected prime minister Tony Abbott is a climate change denier who's pledged to repeal the country's carbon tax and generally push the country to the far right.
The election has major implications for the coal and mining industries, Australia's conservative Liberal-National coalition topped the ruling Labor party. Corbin Hiar offers the heartbreaking news:
The Liberal party won with a campaign focused on business-friendly policies. Abbott has pledged to repeal controversial taxes on carbon emissions and mining, lower corporate tax rates from 30% to 28.5%, cut government spending by A$40 billion over four years and boost investments on roads. "From today I declare that Australia is under new management and that Australia is once again open for new business," said Liberal party leader Tony Abbott on Sept. 7, according to the Wall Street Journal.[...]
Abbott, who famously referred to climate science as "absolute crap," marketed himself as "an infrastructure prime minister" who would put "bulldozers on the ground and cranes into our skies," The Economist reported.
This is a huge blow not only to Australia's climate efforts, but to the international carbon markets in a wider sense.
Australia had one of the healthiest markets, was already linked to New Zealand, and was moving toward linkages with the EU, California (and thus Quebec), China's provincial programs, and potentially South Korea.
Devastating news.