Climate change organisations urge fossil fuels ban after ‘year of the great deluge’

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Members of the Climate Council and the Emergency Leaders for Climate Action are urging governments to move on ending the use of fossil fuels as well as increase resilience funding as Australia heads into summer.

A report issued by both organisations says that there has been an increase in what they call “unnatural disasters” such as floods, and communities are unable to recover before the next disaster hits.

Climate councillor Lesley Hughes said that Australians would remember 2022 as the year of the “great deluge”, following floods and heavy rains that belted the entire of Australia’s East coast.

“Australians are footing the multi-billion-dollar damage bill from climate-fuelled worsening floods, bushfires, droughts, heatwaves, and storms while the coal, gas and oil companies fuelling climate destruction are raking in piles of cash and paying little to no income tax,” Hughes said.

“There is nothing natural about these disasters. They are being unleashed on Australians by decades of reliance on fossil fuels. In Australia, these same companies are enjoying billions in public subsidies. It’s high time we end fossil fuel subsidies and use the savings to create a climate disaster fund so that we can help communities deal with the fallout of compounding and worsening disasters.”

Founder of Emergency Leaders for Climate Action Greg Mullins said that the emergency services are struggling to keep up with the rate at which disasters are hitting the populations of various states.

“In recent years, we have seen emergency responders overwhelmed by the scale, speed, and severity of extreme weather events, like the 2022 floods and Black Summer bushfires. Long-term recovery operations are also more challenging because disasters are striking more frequently,” Mullins, a former commissioner of NSW Fire and Rescue, said.

“We need to make our disaster management systems fit for purpose in the face of worsening climate disasters. Governments must invest in emergency services, better disaster management coordination, more accurate risk models, and community resilience programmes.”

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