The effect of distance

By Harriet Lamb, Executive Director, Fairtrade Foundation

You often have to go abroad to see your own country in a new light. It’s an exciting time to be in Canberra, the beautiful capital of Australia, where the political world is buzzing with fiery arguments about a carbon tax.

I am at the National Business Leaders’ Forum on Sustainable Development, a grouping of CEOs from some of the leading corporations, which has called for the Australian government to move swiftly towards its goal of pricing carbon. Opponents argue that Australia is just a small nation whose actions are insignificant beside USA, China or India. But that is to ignore the role of leadership. 

One UK delegate tells me how critical the Australian argument is to the global debate - they are seen as a bit of a wing state: Australia has the world’s highest per head carbon footprint and if the Government manages to get through its carbon tax, it will be setting the pace globally; but if they fail, in the face of vitriolic opposition, it will be a global set-back. 

Molly Harriss Olson, convenor of the Forum (as well as being a Board member of Fairtrade Labelling Organisation International) says: ‘As nations round the world like the UK are commiting to stronger climate change targets, Australia needs to step up and play a significant role in preparing for the reality of a carbon constrained future’.

You often have to go abroad to see your own country in a new light. We’re so often so hard on ourselves that we don’t see or appreciate our leadership role. At dinner one night – while my colleague Steve tucks into kangaroo sausages – Australian NGOs sing the praises of David Cameron’s moves on limiting carbon. Whilst in the UK NGOs are pushing for harder, faster carbon targets, here the Australian NGOs are full of praise for the UK government’s commitments on carbon reduction – and the British government’s proud tradition, first under Blair and Brown and now under Cameron, of arguing for more and better aid budgets.

Everyone is keen to tell me how companies here look to the UK food and retail sector as the leaders in sustainability - and come back from visits to London determined to do more on Fairtrade. As Mark Thomas wrote hilariously in ‘Walking the Wall’, I feel this strange new feeling stirring within me which I suddenly realise is a sense of patriotic pride!

Read the Fairtrade Foundation’s report on climate change ‘Why the climate revolution must be a fair revolution’ here