Climate Council

Climate Council

Climate Council logo
Predecessor	Climate Commission
Formation	Australia, 2013
Type	Nonprofit organization
Purpose	Science based climate change information
Region served	Australia
Official language	English
Leader	Tim Flannery
Key people	Tim Flannery, Will Steffen, Gerry Hueston
Website	www.climatecouncil.org.au Twitter feed Facebook page

The Climate Council is an Australian independent non-profit organisation formed to provide independent, authoritative climate change information to the Australian public. It was formed by former members of the Climate Commission after it was abolished by the federal government. It is funded by donations from the public.

The Australian Government, under the ruling Labor Party, formed the Australian Climate Commission in February 2011 to act as an independent advisory group to report on the science of climate change. Following the Australian Federal Election in September 2013, the Labor Party lost power to the Liberal/National coalition with Tony Abbott installed as Prime Minister of Australia. On 19 September 2013, Abbott instructed his ministers to disband the Climate Commission. Among the reasons for closing the Commission were to "streamline government processes and avoid duplication of services" and save the A$1.6 million per year spent in operating the Commission. Responsibility for advising the government on climate change was consolidated under the Bureau of Meteorology.

Following the announcement that the Climate Commission was to be wound up, there was a large public movement calling for its immediate reinstatement. This began on social media but transitioned to include an online petition on not-for-profit advocacy site CommunityRun by Cameron Neil.

Following the success of the online petition, former chief commissioner of the Climate Commission, Tim Flannery announced on 23 September 2013 that a non-profit organisation, the Climate Council, would be launched. The founders of the Climate Council were all former commissioners of the disbanded Climate Commission, including Flannery, Veena Sahajwalla, Lesley Hughes, Will Steffen and Gerry Hueston. later joined as the sixth Climate Councillor.