originally published by Perry World House
September 13, 2022
Australia has become a leading actor in the global fight against climate change. As increasingly extreme weather events swept the country – such as the devastating wildfires of early 2020 – local advocates and activists contested widespread climate disinformation and mobilized people power to achieve meaningful governmental action. These efforts helped to bring about the groundbreaking Climate Change Bill, which pledges to cut the country’s emissions 43% by 2030.
Climate change remains a highly divisive issue across the globe, but Australia’s gradual move toward this progressive new law is an example of cohesion in a fracturing world. It demonstrates that national governments are acknowledging the extent of this shared global problem and are enacting policies that make a difference.
Join Perry World House, the School of Arts and Sciences, the Annenberg Public Policy Center (APPC), the Penn Center for Science, Sustainability, and the Media, and the Kleinman Center for Energy Policy for a conversation on these developments with former Prime Minister of Australia Malcolm Turnbull and Penn’s Michael E. Mann, moderated by Annenberg’s Kathleen Hall Jamieson.
This keynote conversation, part of Perry World House’s 2022 Global Order Colloquium, “A Fracturing World: The Future of Globalization,” also serves as the launch event for the Penn Center for Science, Sustainability, and the Media (PCSSM), which will be led by Professor Mann. This new School of Arts and Sciences-based center is a partner organization of APPC, with its postdoctoral fellows program housed at APPC. University of Pennsylvania President M. Elizabeth Magill provided introductory remarks for the program.