SYDNEY: Australia’s main opposition said on Thursday it would drop the country’s commitment to achieving net zero emissions by 2050 if it won power.
The center-right Liberal Party have agonized in recent weeks over whether to drop the climate pledge, introduced by the party’s former leader Scott Morrison when he was prime minister in 2021.
On Thursday current opposition leader Sussan Ley said her party remained committed to “responding to climate change in a way that is affordable, responsible and achievable.”
“We are not pursuing net zero, we are pursuing energy affordability and emissions reduction,” she said.
“Net zero would be welcome” but the target would be achieved without government intervention, Ley added.
The Liberal Party’s decision comes just days after their conservative coalition partners, the National Party, voted to ditch their net zero by 2050 target.
The coalition will meet Sunday to come to an agreement on the coalition’s formal stance.
Australia’s “climate wars” — a years-long domestic fight over emissions policy — stalled progress and the country remains dependent on its fossil fuel economy for growth.
Canberra’s center-left government has poured billions into solar power, wind turbines and green manufacturing and pledged to make the nation a renewable energy superpower.
It has also pledged to slash planet-warming greenhouse gas emissions by up to 70 percent from 2005 levels over the next decade.
Australia’s main opposition party drops net zero commitment
https://arab.news/ne7uw
Australia’s main opposition party drops net zero commitment
- The Liberal Party’s decision comes just days after their conservative coalition partners, the National Party, voted to ditch their net zero by 2050 target
Norway launches probe of Middle East diplomat and husband over Epstein links
- Mona Juul resigned from her position as ambassador to Jordan and Iraq
- Juul and her husband Terje Rod-Larsen played key roles in the Israeli-Palestinian negotiations which led to the Oslo Accords
OSLO: Norwegian police said Monday they have launched an “aggravated corruption” investigation against a high-profile diplomat, Mona Juul, and her husband Terje Rod-Larsen, over the couple’s links to late US sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.
The police economic crime unit Okokrim said in statement that the probe began last week and that an Oslo residence was searched on Monday, as well as a residence belonging to a witness.
“We have launched an investigation to determine whether any criminal offenses have been committed. We are facing a comprehensive and, by all accounts lengthy investigation,” Okokrim chief Pal Lonseth, said.
Juul, 66, and Rod-Larsen, 78, played key roles in the secret Israeli-Palestinian negotiations which led to the Oslo Accords of the early 1990s.
Epstein left $10 million in his will to the couple’s two children, according to Norwegian media.
“Among other things, Okokrim will investigate whether she received benefits in connection to her position,” the statement said.
On Sunday, the foreign ministry announced that Juul had resigned from her position as ambassador to Jordan and Iraq.
“Juul’s contact with the convicted abuser Epstein has shown a serious lapse in judgment,” Foreign Minister Espen Barth Eide said in connection to the announcement.
She had already been temporarily suspended last week pending an internal investigation by the ministry into her alleged links to Epstein, who died in 2019 while awaiting trial for sex trafficking.
Norway’s political and royal circles have been thrust into the eye of the Epstein storm, including the CEO of the World Economic Forum Borge Brende.
Former prime minister Thorbjorn Jagland, is also being investigated for “aggravated corruption” over links to Epstein while he was chair of the Norwegian Nobel Committee — which awards the Nobel Peace Prize — and as secretary general of the Council of Europe.
Norway’s Crown Princess Mette-Marit has also come under scrutiny for her relationship with Epstein, which on Friday she said she “deeply regretted.”
On Monday, Norwegian Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Store voiced support for the establishing of an independent commission set up by Parliament, to fully examine the nature of the ties between these figures and Epstein.
