Wentworth voters sent a strong message to the Coalition that it needs to start taking serious action on climate change or risk seeing its vote continue to fall.
The ALP should also sit up and take notice of exit polling from the Australia Institute, which found an overwhelming majority of voters (79 per cent) were influenced by climate change (and the need to replace coal with renewable energy), while almost half (47 per cent) indicated that this issue had a lot of influence on their vote, and a full third (33 per cent) named it as the most important issue.
Meanwhile in the Netherlands, the Hague Court of Appeal has upheld the historic decision in Urgenda Foundation v. The State of the Netherlands (2015), which 'determined the Dutch government must reduce CO2 emissions by a minimum of 25 per cent (compared to 1990) by 2020 to fulfil its obligation to protect and improve the living environment against the imminent danger caused by climate change'.
With scores of similar actions being brought against governments in cities across the US, countries throughout Europe, New Zealand, Uganda and elsewhere, this result is another positive sign that governments can no longer continue to ignore their citizens' increasingly desperate concerns around climate change. The question, of course, is whether any of this is enough to save us from climate catastrophe?
According to the recent IPCC Report only 'rapid, far-reaching and unprecedented changes in all aspects of society' will give us a chance of limiting global warming to 1.5oC, thus giving us and the planet an opportunity to adapt to the significant changes that are already being wrought by climate change. In other words, we have completely run out of time and need our governments to take decisive and immediate action on climate change.
What does this rapid and far-reaching action look like? According to the IPCC, the world needs to reduce carbon dioxide emissions by 45 per cent (from 2010 levels) by 2030 and reach 'net zero' emissions by 2050 (which may require a period of 'net negative emissions'). To achieve these kinds of reductions, we need to immediately change our approach to energy, land and ecosystems, urban and infrastructure, transport and industry, by, for example, shifting to renewable energy, changing to a plant-based diet, and building green cities.
And yet, our Treasurer, Josh Frydenberg, responded to the Wentworth by-election results by ruling out any change to the government's climate policy,