The Animal Justice Party (AJP) has adopted and embraced the Climate Rescue Accord and acknowledges the vital importance of creating a safe climate, for animals, people, and the planet. This accord outlines a series of essential actions aimed not just at achieving net zero emissions but at reversing the course of global heating through proactive measures.

The Climate Rescue Accord is based on three pivotal strategies:

1. Reduce - Rapid reduction to zero emissions. 
2. Remove - Drawdown excess greenhouse gases.
3. Repair - Active cooling - urgent R&D into immediate cooling strategies such as solar radiation management. We have left it too long for Reduce and Remove alone to prevent runaway warming.

The accord highlights the urgency of going beyond mere emission reductions, stressing the necessity for active efforts to cool the planet to avert the catastrophic impacts of runaway warming.

The Animal Justice Party's commitment to climate action goes further than other political organisations by acknowledging the rapid transition towards plant-based agriculture as a critical step for slashing greenhouse gas emissions. This shift is not only vital for reducing our carbon footprint but also for freeing up vast areas of land currently used for pasture, which can then be reforested to naturally sequester carbon from the atmosphere.

The AJP's stance is clear: the global community must go beyond the conventional net zero targets to safeguard the future of our planet. The party argues that sticking to simple net zero goals, while continuing to burn fossil fuels, poses a significant risk of crossing critical climate tipping points, which could lead to the loss of millions of lives, the extinction of countless species, and the collapse of vital ecosystems.

The history of climate action has been marked by numerous missed targets and half-measures. Despite Australia's commitment to the Methane Pledge, action has been lacking, particularly in high-emission sectors such as meat and dairy production, as well as coal and gas extraction. The AJP criticizes this "business as usual" approach and calls for a more aggressive stance on reducing emissions across all sectors.

The Animal Justice Party's adoption of the Climate Rescue Accord represents a bold step forward in the fight against climate change. By advocating for comprehensive and immediate action, the AJP is leading the way towards a cooler, safer, and more sustainable planet for all inhabitants, human and non-human alike. The major parties’ positions on climate change will lead to an unlivable earth.

Background

Active cooling options are controversial but they provide a safe passage to a safe climate future. Simply relying on zero emissions and drawdown will likely see us enter dangerous levels of heating that could lead to cascading impacts. 

We already live in an unsafe climate. Billions of animals have already lost their lives to climate catastrophes, species have gone extinct, and billions remain at risk from increasing global heating (also see 1, 2, 3). The only way to protect as many animals, people, and environments as possible is to work towards a safe climate by reversing global warming through global cooling. This means not only stopping greenhouse gas emissions but also removing them from the atmosphere.

At 1.5C of warning and beyond we enter a world where runaway climate change becomes more and more likely with the threat we will see several degrees of warming. This would create a world that is unlivable for most people, animals, and ecosystems.

The AJP believes that we can and must achieve a safe climate for all. To do so we must use all of the levers at our disposal, this includes rapid reduction of greenhouse gas emissions, removal of carbon from the atmosphere through drawdown, and enable research that investigates the safe use of immediate cooling options that would help with safe passage.

The AJP will begin strengthening its current climate change policies in a way that integrates and builds up the goals and demands outlined in the Climate Rescue Accord. For example, we see the rapid transition towards plant-based agricultural as essential to reducing GHGe emissions and releasing large areas of degraded pasture land for use in the natural removal of carbon through the reforestation of land. Agricultural greenhouse gas emissions are so extensive that the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) agreed that:

… even if fossil fuel emissions were immediately halted, current trends in global food systems would prevent the achievement of the 1.5°C target and, by the end of the century, threaten the achievement of the 2°C target.