It’s Flipp’n Crazy to ignore the Climate Emergency
Extinction Rebellion Australia, 10 April 2026
XR Vic activists are sending urgent messages to politicians on flipping pieces of corflute. Our planet is heating up! Earth is busting global warming limits. We’ve just experienced the 11 hottest years on record – that isn’t a coincidence, and it’s madness not to act!
The annual State of the Climate report, published in March 2026 by the World Meteorological Organisation, shows that our reliance on fossil fuels is pushing us further away from goals to decarbonise.
There’s more carbon dioxide (CO2) in the atmosphere than there’s ever been, and more is being pumped out all the time as the World burns fossil fuels.
Carbon dioxide can stay in the atmosphere for hundreds to thousands of years. Burning fossil fuels keeps adding more CO2 than nature can remove, leading to long-term accumulation and rapid buildup of CO2 in our atmosphere.
Australia has nothing to be proud of. Our domestic emissions are falling, but we are a major contributor to the climate crisis, as the World’s 14th largest greenhouse gas emitter and a top exporter of coal and liquefied natural gas.
An article in The Conversation points out that our per capita carbon dioxide emissions are about three times the global average. That means on average, each of us emits more carbon dioxide than people in all European countries and the US.
Australia is very vulnerable. Human-induced greenhouse gases are driving increased periods of extreme heat, reduced cool-season rainfall in the south, and rising sea levels. Bushfire seasons are becoming more intense and floods, and droughts are escalating, causing severe economic damage. An increasing number of Australian homes are becoming uninsurable.
Yet Australian governments continue to subsidise mining and fossil fuel use, at the cost of $16.3 billion in 2025–26, an increase of 9.4% on the previous year.
The Fuel Tax Credit Scheme mainly benefits mining companies and it hinders emission reduction efforts. It’s a major driver of costs, reaching $10.8 billion in 2025–26. Growth of the scheme is expected to outstrip spending on a range of social services including disability assistance, child care subsidies and aged care.