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Greens welcome climate deal, slam coal

Acting Greens leader Larissa Waters says her party is thrilled with the new climate deal but Australia is still dragging its feet.

Federal Greens Deputy Leader Larissa Waters
Source: AAP

2 min read

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Source: AAP


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A climate deal struck in Paris is a wonderful outcome but Australia must unravel ties with coal to put it into effect, the Greens say.

It comes after 196 parties reached a historic agreement to curb carbon emissions and restrict global warming to "well below" 2C, having pushed past the Friday night deadline to adopt the final text.

Acting Greens leader Larissa Waters welcomed the outcome but said Australia was still wedded to the coal industry as international counterparts looked to clean energy alternatives.

"We refused to sign up to an agreement to phase out fossil fuel subsidies - Australia needs to hurry up and catch up," Senator Waters told reporters in Brisbane on Sunday.

"We should be abolishing those subsidies (because) the age of coal is over."

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Australia was uniquely placed to suffer the consequences of unchecked global warming given natural wonders like the Great Barrier Reef would be destroyed, she said.

But Senator Waters praised the 2C target which she said had, only months earlier, seemed like an "impossible achievement".

"It's really important the government reviews their targets and gets with this global program," she said.


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