economic driver.
Newman said “hopefully, like India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Tony Abbott isn’t listening to the UN”.
But he warned that “having gained so much ground, eco-catastrophists won’t let up”.
“After all, they have captured the UN and are extremely well-funded. They have a hugely powerful ally in the White House,” he said.
“They will continue to present the climate change movement as an independent, spontaneous consensus of concerned scientists, politicians and citizens who believe human activity is ‘extremely likely’ to be the dominant cause of global warming.
“And they will keep mobilising public opinion using fear and appeals to morality.”
Abbott, who once said evidence blaming mankind for climate change was “absolute crap”, axed a controversial tax on greenhouse gas emissions last year as part of an election pledge.
His government replaced it with a so-called “direct action” plan that included paying companies to increase energy efficiency and not pollute.
Environment Minister Greg Hunt distanced himself from Newman.
“Individuals are entitled to their views; our approach is to work constructively with all international parties,” he told ABC radio, adding that he had had “very constructive talks” with Figueres this week.
Amanda McKenzie, chief executive of the independent Climate Council, said Newman should resign.
“He is either intentionally misleading the public or he is incapable of understanding scientific consensus, in which case he has no business advising the government,” she said.
The Climate Council was formed to inform the public on the issue by ex-members of the Climate Commission, a government-backed body that Abbott abolished.
According to the UN’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, the global mean temperature could rise by up to 4.8 C this century alone, widely seen as a recipe for worsening drought, floods and rising seas.
Australia has a current target of reducing greenhouse gas emissions to five percent below 2000 levels by 2020, but is yet to announce further targets.
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