Canada, Australia Respond To Obama Action With United Front Of Climate Denial

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Tony Abbott and Stephen Harper indicated during a joint media conference in Ottawa that they felt no additional pressure to address climate change as a result of the US president Barack Obama's new package to reduce emissions.

Reflecting pessimism about the likelihood of ambitious co-ordinated global action, Abbott said climate change was "not the only or even the most important problem" the world faced and argued each country "should take the action that it thinks is best to reduce emissions". The Australian Greens accused Abbott and Harper of creating a "conservative climate deniers club" while the Australian Labor party said the surest way to destroy jobs and growth in the long term was to do nothing about climate change.

Abbott, who is due to meet Obama in the US this week, characterised the US president’s announcements as similar to the Australian government's "Direct Action measures" to reduce emissions. "We should do what we reasonably can to limit emissions and avoid climate change – man-made climate change – but we shouldn’t clobber the economy," the Australian prime minister said.

"That’s why I’ve always been against a carbon tax or an emissions trading scheme because it harms our economy without necessarily helping the environment."

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http://www.theguardian.com/environment/2014/jun/10/climate-unity-dealt-blow-as-australia-and-canada-take-issue-with-us-stance