Climate Council Set to Reach $1M in Donations
27 September 2013 at 2:10 pm
The new Climate Council led by Tim Flannery has received almost $1 million in public donations to secure its position as an independent source of public information on the changing climate.
The establishment of the new organisation comes after the Abbott Government last week shutdown the Climate Commission – part of a widespread abolishment of Gillard and Rudd Government climate change initiatives including the Price on Carbon.
The Climate Council, which is made up of former Commissioners of the Climate Commission, will rely on small donations to remain independent and said they would not take big money “with strings attached to it”.
Professor Tim Flannery said the Climate Council's first order of business would be to respond to the release of the IPCC report on Monday.
“The release of the IPCC report today reaffirms that scientists are more certain that fossil fuels cause climate change than they are certain that smoking causes lung cancer,” he said.
“The Climate Council will be releasing a summary of the IPCC’s finding on Monday. We are back in business.
“We are able to do this work because in less than one week 20,000 people have contributed small amounts donation to ensure Australians’ right to know about climate change is upheld.
“In the next day we expect, our fundraising will have nearly reached $1 million.
“The Australian public are concerned about climate change. Over the last four days they have put their money where their mouth is.
Prof Flannery said he and fellow Councillors thanks the Australian public for their generosity and “astounding display of community spirit”.
“We take this responsibility very seriously,” Prof Flannery said.
