Ross Garnaut

Ross Garnaut

Ross Gregory Garnaut AO (born 28 July 1946, Perth, Western Australia[1]) is a Distinguished Professor of Economics at the Australian National University[2][3] and both a Vice-Chancellor's Fellow and Professorial Fellow of Economics at The University of Melbourne.[4]

Throughout his career Garnaut held a number of influential political and economic positions as: Senior Economic Adviser to Prime Minister Bob Hawke (1983–85), Australia's Ambassador to China (1985–88), Chairman of the Primary Industry Bank of Australia (1989–94), Chairman of BankWest (1988–95), Head of Division in the Papua New Guinea Department of Finance (1975–76) and Chairman of Lihir Gold.

On 30 April 2007 the state and territory governments of Australia, at the request of Kevin Rudd, then leader of the Australian Labor Party and Leader of the Opposition, appointed Garnaut to examine the impacts of climate change on the Australian economy and recommend medium to long-term policies and policy frameworks to improve the prospects for sustainable prosperity.[5] The Garnaut Climate Change Review was finalised on 30 September 2008,[6] with a finalised update being released on 31 May 2011.[7] Professor Garnaut concluded his role as Climate Change advisor for the Australian Government on 30 June 2011.[8]

Career history

Garnaut attended Perth Modern School and then the Australian National University. He attained a Bachelor of Arts in 1967 and a PhD in 1972 as a student of Emeritus Professor Peter Drysdale. He has worked in the following positions:

1989 ABC news report on Garnaut's "Asia report" in which he emphasised trade liberalisation and Asian language literacy.

Garnaut is a member of the Trilateral Commission.[9] Garnaut was Chairman of the Papua New Guinea Sustainable Development Program from 2002 to 2012,[10] but resigned after Prime Minister Peter O'Neil's government banned Garnaut from entering Papua New Guinea due to a dispute with BHP Billiton.[11] He was Chairman of Lihir Gold Limited from 1995 until the merger with Newcrest Mining Limited in 2010[12][13] and he was the Chairman of the International Food Policy Research Institute from 2006 to 2010.[14]

He is married to Jayne, with sons John (born 1974 - a journalist for Fairfax Media newspapers) and Anthony (1977).

Garnaut Climate Change Review

The Garnaut Climate Change Review was commissioned by former Prime Minister of Australia, Kevin Rudd,[15] and by the Australia's state and territory governments on 30 April 2007. After his election on 24 November 2007 the Prime Minister of Australia, Kevin Rudd, confirmed the participation of the Commonwealth Government in the review.

The final report was released on 30 September 2008[16] and recommended that Australia should indicate at an early date its preparedness to play its full, proportionate part in an effective global agreement that ‘adds up’ to either a 450 or a 550 emissions concentrations scenario, or to a corresponding point between. Australia’s full part for 2020 in a 450 scenario would be a reduction of 25 per cent in emissions entitlements from 2000 levels. For 2050, reductions would be 90 per cent from 2000 levels (95 per cent per capita). Australia’s full part for 2020 in a 550 scenario would be a reduction in entitlements of 10 per cent from 2000 levels. For 2050, reductions would be 80 per cent from 2000 levels or 90 per cent per capita. If there is no comprehensive global agreement at Copenhagen in 2009, Australia, in the context of an agreement among developed countries only, should commit to reduce its emissions by 5 per cent (25 per cent per capita) from 2000 levels by 2020, or 13 per cent from the Kyoto compliance 2008–12 period.[17]

The report's recommendations in terms of policy, apart from a Carbon Pollution Reduction Scheme which included forestry and agriculture, centred heavily on hoping that carbon capture and storage and other clean coal technologies would be available on a wide scale within the next twenty years.

The report was criticised by the Australian Chamber of Commerce and Industry for the economic impact that reducing greenhouse gas emissions would have.[18] It was also heavily criticised by environmental organisations, including Friends of the Earth[19] and Rising Tide Australia.[20] The Australian Conservation Foundation praised the report for advocating a 450 ppm target.[21] Dr. Clive Hamilton was heavily critical of the report, arguing that it reduced global expectations of what should be aimed for, naively exposed Australia's negotiating tactics to the international diplomatic sphere, alienates both the Australian public and the international community, misjudges the time frames necessary to avoid dangerous climate change, gives Australia numerous special deals, and would be rejected by the international community.[22]

Responses from political parties were mixed. Australian Greens leader Bob Brown showed that the report demonstrated that reducing greenhouse gas emissions would not come at the expense of Australia's economic growth.[23] Climate Change Minister Penny Wong did not comment directly on the report but said that economic responsibility needed to be considered in responding to the report, and that the Government would wait before Treasury modelling on climate change mitigation before responding.[24]

In November 2010 the Minister for Climate Change and Energy Efficiency commissioned Professor Garnaut to update his 2008 Garnaut Climate Change Review.[25] Eight papers were released in February and March 2011[26] and the final report of the Garnaut Climate Change Review Update 2011 was presented to the Government on 31 May 2011.[7]

In September 2010, Professor Garnaut was appointed as an independent expert advisor to the Multi-Party Climate Change Committee.[27] The Committee will explore options for the implementation of a carbon price and will help to build consensus on how Australia will tackle the challenge of climate change.

Ross Garnaut commented after Cyclone Yasi affected Queensland in 2011 that the extensive body of climate science suggested that "cyclonic events will be more intense in a hotter world". He further noted that if there were an intensification of extreme weather events with less than one degree of warming experienced and, if strong emissions growth was expected from many rapidly growing developing countries, then "you ain’t seen nothing yet" in terms of the intensification of extreme weather events.[28][29][30] Recent studies by Australian scientists have detected a long-term shift towards wet extremes and hot extremes occurring at the same time, consistent with changes as a result of increased concentrations in greenhouse gases.[31][32]

On 23 June 2015, Garnaut is scheduled to deliver the annual Luxton Memorial Lecture at the University of Adelaide in South Australia. His talk is entitled Australia: Energy superpower of the low carbon world.[33]

Garnaut on nuclear power

In 2008, Garnaut was of the opinion that nuclear was not obviously necessary in Australia's low carbon energy future. He told the media:

"Nuclear energy is an important part of the global response to a low-carbon economy, but under Australian circumstances, it is not obvious that nuclear is an important part of our answer."[34]

His position on the matter was countered by Ziggy Switkowski, leader of the 2006 UMPNER Review, and an advocate for nuclear power in Australia.

Garnaut considers nuclear power to be a "low emissions" energy source, given its negligible emissions of carbon dioxide to the atmosphere during plant operation. As such, he supports nuclear power as part of global efforts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions especially given rising energy consumption in Asia. He has also publicly noted China's commitment to expanding its fleet of nuclear reactors, even in the wake of the Fukushima disaster.[35][36]

Books

Notes and references

  1. ↑ "Professor Garnaut's CV" (pdf). Retrieved 2008-03-08.
  2. ↑ "Ross Garnaut". ANU Climate Change Institute. 2011. Retrieved 26 June 2011.
  3. ↑ "Ross Garnaut". Research School of Pacific and Asian Studies (RSPAS) - ANU.
  4. ↑ http://voice.unimelb.edu.au/news/5089/
  5. ↑ Garnaut Review Web Site: Welcome
  6. ↑ "Rapid growth and global warming – The Australian". 3 December 2007.
  7. 1 2 "Launch of final report, National Press Club, Canberra" (PDF). Garnaut Climate Change Review Update 2011. 31 May 2011. Retrieved 26 June 2011.
  8. ↑ Kelly, Joe (30 June 2011). "Only the best, unless I'm wrong, says Ross Garnaut". The Australian.
  9. ↑ "Trilateral Commission. List of Members. 2005-01". NameBase. Archived from the original on 2012-01-16. Retrieved 2012-01-20.
  10. ↑ "Ex-PM steps in as Garnaut bows out at Ok Tedi trust". The Australian. 2 November 2012.
  11. ↑ ABC News (2013). Ross Garnaut resigns as Chairman of OK Tedi. Retrieved 25 January 2013.
  12. ↑ Chambers, Matt (24 August 2010). "Lihir Gold to accept Newcrest's takeover offer". The Australian.
  13. ↑ Kiladze, Tim (30 August 2010). "Last day of trading for Lihir Gold". The Globe and Mail. Toronto.
  14. ↑
  15. ↑ http://www.garnautreview.org.au/CA25734E0016A131/WebObj/GarnautClimateChangeReview-DraftReport-Ch1andPrelim/$File/Garnaut%20Climate%20Change%20Review%20-%20Draft%20Report%20-%20Ch%201%20and%20Prelim.pdf
  16. ↑ Garnaut report homepage
  17. ↑ http://www.garnautreview.org.au/synopsis.htm
  18. ↑ http://www.acci.asn.au/text_files/media_releases/2008/101-08.pdf
  19. ↑ http://www.foe.org.au/media-releases/2008-media-releases/rudd-must-reject-garnauts-low-climate-change-targets
  20. ↑ http://www.risingtide.org.au/node/792
  21. ↑ http://www.acfonline.org.au/articles/news.asp?news_id=1973
  22. ↑ http://www.crikey.com.au/Garnaut-Report/20080930-Clive-Hamilton-politics-trumps-science-in-Garnaut-report.html
  23. ↑ http://greens.org.au/node/3216
  24. ↑ "Climate policy must be responsible: Wong". The Sydney Morning Herald. 30 September 2008.
  25. ↑ "Garnaut Review terms of reference" (Press release). The Hon Greg Combet AM MP Minister for Climate Change and Energy Efficiency. 11 November 2010. Retrieved 26 June 2011.
  26. ↑ "Update papers". Garnaut Climate Change Review Update 2011. 31 May 2011. Retrieved 26 June 2011.
  27. ↑ "Prime Minister establishes Climate Change Committee" (Press release). The Hon Greg Combet AM MP Minister for Climate Change and Energy Efficiency. 27 September 2010. Retrieved 26 June 2011.
  28. ↑ http://www.couriermail.com.au/news/queensland/climate-risk-to-worsen-says-adviser/story-e6freoof-1225999791393
  29. ↑ http://www.brisbanetimes.com.au/environment/weather/future-cyclones-could-be-more-extreme-garnaut-20110203-1afj9.html
  30. ↑ http://www.garnautreview.org.au/update-2011/media/feb-3-media-briefing-release-first-update-paper-transcript.html
  31. ↑ Gallant, A. J. E. and D. J. Karoly (2010). "A Combined Climate Extremes Index for the Australian Region." Journal of Climate 23(23): 6153-6165.
  32. ↑ Nicholls, N. (2008). Australian climate and weather extremes: Past, present and future. A report on research for the Department of Climate Change. Canberra, Department of Climate Change.
  33. ↑ "Coming event: Can Australia become a low-carbon energy superpower?". Retrieved 2015-06-18.
  34. ↑ "Ross Garnaut's nuclear knockout". Retrieved 2015-06-18.
  35. ↑ "Nuclear power still important: Garnaut". Retrieved 2015-06-18.
  36. ↑ "Australia under a carbon price plan: Q+A with Ross Garnaut". Retrieved 2015-06-18.

External links

Diplomatic posts
Preceded by
Dennis Argall		 Australian Ambassador to China
1985–1988 		Succeeded by
David Sadleir
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