We’ve shortened our name to Parents for Climate, it’s easier to say and remember. This will help us reach and engage even more parents, carers, and grandparents in securing a safe climate for our kids to thrive. Nic Seton, Parents for Climate CEO, explains how this small change can help make a big difference.

Every day, parents provide safety, comfort and strength to their families.

We make lunches. We give hugs. We mend wounds. And we solve problems.

But climate change is more than any one parent can bear. Sure we all have a role to play, but big actors, like governments and businesses, have so far failed to do what it takes to secure a safe climate for our kids. So we’re left with little choice but to rally together, united by the love we share for our children, to secure ambitious climate action for the love of our kids.

That’s what Parents for Climate was created to do. And over four years, tens of thousands of parents have stepped up to play their part. We've engaged millions of voters and moved millions of dollars in funding to deploy climate solutions. But time is running out. And it will take many more  parents to join forces to achieve our aim. 

Did you know that Parents for Climate has made 14 formal submissions to our various national, state and local Governments this year alone? Each submission is carefully presented to the relevant State or Federal Government authority, as a powerful voice representing parent’s interests, and in balance to the Industry or Trade lobbies.

One of our recent submission was in response to the Government Climate Change Authority (CCA) request for submission on Setting, Tracking and Achieving Australia’s emissions reduction targets – a critical subject in that if the government body tasked with policing emissions only receives submissions from Industry emitters….. well, we can guess the outcome!

The New South Wales Labor Government is facing a major test on its commitment to meaningful climate and energy policy as Cabinet considers extending the life of Australia’s largest coal fired power plant by paying billions of taxpayers’ dollars to energy giants.

Melissa Haswell, University of Sydney; David Shearman, University of Adelaide; Jacob Hegedus, University of Sydney, and Lisa Jackson Pulver, University of Sydney

We are seeing deadly heat and fires circle the world. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change warns we are fast running out of time to secure a liveable and sustainable future. Without emergency action to stop mining and burning fossil fuels, the world faces an unthinkable 2.8℃ temperature rise.

It’s incomprehensible, then, that many of our politicians support “unlocking the Beetaloo Basin” in the Northern Territory and developing another 48 oil and gas projects across Australia.

“Unlocking” means starting large-scale shale gas extraction. After drilling through 3–4km of rock and aquifers, a cocktail of chemicals, sand and water is forced down the well. This process of hydraulic fracturing is commonly known as fracking. This brings to the surface, and then into the atmosphere, carbon that had been securely stored underground for 300–400 million years.

Today we have launched a report that demonstrates the many risks of oil and gas development for human health and wellbeing in Australia. Based on a review of over 300 peer-reviewed studies, our report provides the public and decision-makers with a summary of the now-extensive evidence of these risks.

The rising tide of fracking in the Beetaloo. Fracturing above and below the ground. Industrialising massive landscapes. Peoples country and culture. This is just the exploration phase.#BanFracking #WaterIsLife #ClimateEmergency #Beetaloo pic.twitter.com/GEhACxFTfE

— @stabmaps (@stabmaps) March 13, 2022

With Treasury’s Intergenerational Report to be released tomorrow, revealing the impact of today’s economic decisions on future generations, Australian Parents for Climate Action (AP4CA) is urging leaders to keep the cost of climate inaction at the centre of all decisions.

Jessica is a human rights lawyer, specialising in refugee and immigration law. Jessica is CEO and co-founder of WLW Migration Lawyers, an award-winning immigration law firm based in Melbourne. Prior to establishing WLW Migration Lawyers, Jessica was the Principal Solicitor of the Asylum Seeker Resource Centre’s Human Rights Law Program. She also worked for Inclusion Ghana, Ghana’s peak NGO for people with intellectual disabilities. Jessica is an experienced board member and has a Bachelor of Laws (Hons) and a Bachelor of International Relations from La Trobe University.

In an Australian first, Parents for Climate has filed a claim in the Federal Court of Australia against EnergyAustralia for misleading over 400,000 consumers about the climate impact of its products.

Parents for Climate alleges that EnergyAustralia is misleading customers by marketing its Go Neutral product as “carbon neutral” and having “a positive impact on the environment” when it is primarily generated by burning fossil fuels, which the company claims to have “offset” simply by buying carbon credits.

This will be the first Australian civil action brought against a company for marketing a specific consumer product as “carbon neutral” and follows recent agreement by lawmakers in the European Parliament to ban this act overseas.

Parents for Climate estimates that 'Go Neutral' customers spend hundreds of millions a year on fossil fuel energy, while being led to believe that it is “carbon neutral”

A delegation of Northern Territory parents has arrived in Canberra to call on the federal government to withdraw its support for expanding the NT’s gas industry, particularly fracking in the Beetaloo Basin and the associated processing plant at Middle Arm.

Senator Malarndirri McCarthy will host the members of Australian Parents for Climate Action (AP4CA) as they meet with federal government ministers to present an open letter and a book of photos, childrens’ drawings and messages from Territorians concerned about the impact of fracking and large industrial projects in the NT.

We’re calling on all Australian Parliamentarians to enshrine their duty of care to protect young and future generations in law.

Building on our 2022 campaign, urging the current and former environment ministers to uphold their duty of care, we are expanding our appeal to all members and senators. And this is a critical moment!

Independent Senator David Pocock is introducing a private member’s bill to call for changes to the Climate Change Act to force government to consider the health and well being of young and future generations when making decisions about projects that impact the climate. As parents concerned about their children’s climate, we strongly support this bill.

Our love for our children is above politics. Add your support. And let’s ensure our kids are safe from climate harm caused by decisions today.

Dear Federal Parliamentarians,

 

We ask that you support the Climate Change Amendment (Duty of Care and Intergenerational Equity) Bill 2023, and to enshrine a duty of care to protect the health and wellbeing of young and future Australians in government decision making on projects that could significantly increase greenhouse gas emissions.

 

With our sincere support, encouragement and hope for the future our kids will inherit. Our kids and their families are counting on you.

 

Australian parents, grandparents, carers and family members.

 

We care about our kids and the kind of future that they will inherit.

We know that fossil fuels are incompatible with a safe future, just like nuclear weapons are incompatible with a safe future.

That's why 101 Nobel laureates and over 3,000 scientists are calling for a fossil fuel non-proliferation treaty. Six countries and 84 subnational governments have already endorsed it. It's time Australia got on board, too.

We need a Fossil Fuel Non-Proliferation Treaty now.

Dear World Leaders and Australian governments, 

As parents, grandparents and carers, we are calling on the world leaders and Australian governments to join governments across the world to negotiate, adopt and implement a Fossil Fuel Non-Proliferation Treaty - our kids are counting on us.

Coal, oil and gas are the source of 86% of CO2 emissions that cause climate change. Our addiction to these fossil fuels means children in every country around the world are breathing polluted air, while storms, floods, heat waves and bushfires hit with increasing severity and frequency.

As parents, grandparents and carers, we cannot stand by and let the fossil fuel industry and world leaders rob our children of a safe future.

So we are speaking up, emboldened by the love we have for our children, to demand an end to the fossil fuel era and a just transition to a clean energy future.

We are seeking a binding global plan to:

1. End expansion of any new coal, oil or gas production in line with the best available science as outlined by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) and the United Nations Environment Programme;

2. Phase-out existing production of fossil fuels in a manner that is fair and equitable, taking into account the respective dependency of countries on fossil fuels and their capacity to transition;

3. Ensure a just transition to 100% access to renewable energy globally, support dependent economies to diversify away from fossil fuels, and enable all people and communities, not least the Global South, to flourish.

As parents, grandparents and carers, we stand united for a clear, global plan to phase out fossil fuels. Governments must make it happen now, our kids are counting on us.

Yours sincerely,
Australian parents, grandparents, carers and family members.

Russell Tytler, Deakin University and Peter Freebody, University of Wollongong

The case for action on climate change no longer needs to be laid out.

We see, almost daily, disturbing images of bushfires, floods or a mass extinction crisis. But however widespread that sense of urgency may be, we are struggling as a nation to respond in a substantive, coordinated way.

One thing is clear: these responses will need to be sustained and developed by future generations. Education is crucial for the workforce needed now and for young people who will be increasingly faced with the accelerating realities of climate change.

The Academy of the Social Sciences in Australia has done a review of research on climate change education in schools around the world.

Andrew Blakers, Australian National University

Last year, the world built more new solar capacity than every other power source combined.

Solar is now growing much faster than any other energy technology in history. How fast? Fast enough to completely displace fossil fuels from the entire global economy before 2050.

The rise and rise of cheap solar is our best hope for rapidly mitigating climate change.

Reacting to the federal budget, Australian Parents for Climate Action (AP4CA) welcomes new investment in smart, long-term cost relief for Australian households and social housing.

Nic Seton, CEO for Australian Parents for Climate Action said: “We welcome the increased attention on long-term energy cost solutions for Australian families who are battling rising bills. Clean and efficient energy solutions are the surest path to reducing energy costs. But these announcements only go part way towards upgrading Australian homes, and more is needed to ensure all homes provide affordable comfort through equitable access to cheap clean energy solutions.”

Craig Stanbury, Monash University

What makes a good parent? Most would say a good parent loves and nurtures their child with the ultimate aim of helping them flourish – now and into the future. A good parent will feed their child, give them space to play and time to use their imagination, make sure they get an education and medical care, listen to their troubles, and teach them to one day be autonomous adults.

However, does being a good parent involve anything more than this?

Where do the parties actually stand on critical climate policy topics?

Click on the coloured tabs below

This guide is an objective, non-partisan comparison of the stated climate policies of all parties with seats in the NSW Legislative Assembly and Legislative Council (downloaded 10 March 2023) in terms of emissions reduction targets and approach to fossil fuel mining, as well as a selection of independents with strong climate policies.

We encourage you to review the parties' / candidates' policies by clicking through the links. Some have considerably more detail about how their emissions reduction targets will be met.

Australian Parents for Climate Action advocates for an emissions reduction target (ERT) of 75% by 2030 (from 2005 levels) and net zero by 2035 (based on recommendations of the Climate Targets Panel and the Paris Agreement's equity principles, which require wealthy, high-emitting nations to make cuts above the global average). We support IPCC and IEA recommendations that no new fossil fuel extraction or infrastructure projects are compatible with keeping global heating to 1.5 degrees C.