Climate change is worsening extreme weather events, exacerbating bushfire conditions and putting Australian lives, properties and livelihoods at greater risk.
These fires are bigger, more intense and more dangerous than we’ve ever seen before. They’re happening earlier in the year, they’re causing more damage and they’re harder to fight.
Stand with the Climate Council and Emergency Leaders for Climate Action in urging all political leaders in Australia to take urgent, immediate action on climate change to protect Australians from the escalating bushfire risk.
ADD MY NAME
The past few days have been a blur for Greg Mullins.
Not only has he been out on the frontline as a volunteer firefighter, the Former NSW Fire Commissioner and Climate Councillor has been working day and night to make sure that the Australian public understands the link between climate change and worsening bushfires.
So far, Greg has been on The Project, Channel 7 Sunrise, Radio National, Studio 10, ABC 7.30 and News Breakfast, shutting down misinformation and holding political leaders to account. Check out some of his coverage here.
Along with 4 other members of the Emergency Leaders for Climate Action, we also held a press conference to outline the urgent action that is needed going forward. Keep up to date with the Emergency Leaders by subscribing here.
Climate Councillor and Former Fire and Rescue Commissioner, Greg Mullins
In a rapidly changing environment, Greg has been a critical voice underlining climate change’s influence on these increasingly dangerous mega fires.
Going forward, Greg Mullins and the Emergency Leaders for Climate Action (ELCA) are calling for:
- A well-equipped fire and emergency service, which is able to address the increasing risk to lives and livelihoods from bushfires that are exacerbated by climate change.
- A credible federal climate and energy policy that will ramp up Australia’s transition to renewable energy and dramatically slash our greenhouse gas emissions
We need as many voices as possible to amplify this message and urgently call on our political leaders, no matter what side of the political divide, to come up with a plan to protect Australians from the escalating bushfire risk. This means fully funding our emergency services, rapidly slashing our greenhouse gases, and ramping up Australia’s transition to renewable energy.
Add your name to the call here!
We need urgent action on climate change, and we need it now.
While the emergency response from these fires continue, debate has been raging about the cause of the fires. The science is clear, and for us, there is no debate.
We’ve been very busy behind the scenes, releasing a new briefing paper, This is Not Normal, which finds the catastrophic fire conditions affecting NSW and Queensland have been aggravated by climate change.
It’s our role to provide the public with accurate information, to shut down misleading commentary and make sure all Australians know and understand the scientific truth about bushfires and climate change. Read and share the briefing paper here!
Emergency Leaders for Climate Action (ELCA) is an initiative of the Climate Council. The group is comprised of 22 former senior Australian fire and emergency service leaders, who have observed how Australia is experiencing increasingly catastrophic extreme weather events that are putting lives, properties and livelihoods at greater risk and overwhelming our emergency services. Read the Emergency Leaders’ joint statement here. To learn more about ELCA, head to the ELCA website here.