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Australia to miss 2030 emissions targets due to coal
Australia to miss 2030 emissions reduction targets due to failure to wean itself off coal
SYDNEY, November 1, 2017 - Australia is
poised to miss its 2030 emissions reduction targets with the
United Nations identifying us as one of a number of
countries that need to take stronger action to meet its
Paris commitments.
The UN Environment Programme's ‘Emissions Gap 2017’ report overnight found that pledges made by nations at Paris in 2015 are only around one-third of what is required to halt global average temperatures rising two degrees or more above pre-industrial levels.
Australia has pledged to cut its 2005 emissions by 26-28 per cent by 2030 but the report highlighted the federal government’s own forecasts, which show the nation is set to dramatically miss the target.
Australia is projected to emit 592 million tonnes of CO2-equivalent a year by 2030, well above the targeted range of 429-440 million tonnes.
“Coal is at the heart of Australia’s emissions problems yet the Coalition’s hopelessly compromised energy policy does nothing to address this,” Greenpeace campaigner Jonathan Moylan said.
“Australia's failure to adopt a policy to phase out coal exports was specifically criticised by the UNEP report and Pacific leaders, including Tuvalu Prime Minister Enele Sopoaga, who said that Australia was stuck in the dark ages with its reliance on fossil fuels.”
Only yesterday the World
Meteorological Organization’s Greenhouse Gas Bulletin revealed that
CO2 levels in the atmosphere had reached their highest level
last year in 800,000 years.
Rapidly increasing levels of
CO2 and other greenhouse gases can spark unprecedented
changes in climate systems, the WMO said.
With world
leaders meeting next week in Bonn, Germany for the annual UN
climate negotiations, COP23, it’s clear that a strong and
shared vision must emerge if the world is to close the 2030
emissions gap and stem the increasing levels of CO2 levels
in our atmosphere.
“In the space of just two days we
have seen how levels of carbon dioxide (CO2) have surged at
‘record-breaking speed’ to new highs in 2016 and how the
world’s governments are still not living up to the
promises they made in Paris. Time is running out,”
Greenpeace International Executive Director Jennifer Morgan
said:
“The sooner we act, the better. This year’s spate of climate-fuelled hurricanes, floods and drought will rapidly worsen if we fail to seize our moment. The obligation for all countries meeting in Bonn and going forward must be to keep fossil fuels in the ground.
“Paris was just the starting point. Faster, bolder action is needed. Leaders must emerge in Bonn and use the platform to take stronger action and hold others to account if they fail to live up to their obligations. We can still achieve 1.5 degrees Celsius if we all work together.”
Greenpeace is calling for countries to use
the first stocktake of collective climate action (the
facilitative dialogue) in 2018 to unveil stronger climate
ambition.
“The message is clear: our climate is
changing and governments must ramp up their action. But more
than that, we must also start talking about the
responsibilities of carbon producers,” Morgan
added.
“Carbon producers have so far avoided taking responsibility, in any form, for greenhouse gas emissions from their products. That must and will change. The world’s carbon producers have a responsibility to contribute to limiting climate change through investment in mitigation, support for adaptation and compensation for climate damages.”
Greenpeace
Greenpeace exists because this fragile earth deserves a voice.
Greenpeace is an independent global campaigning organisation that acts to change attitudes and behaviour, to protect and conserve the environment and to promote peace.
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