Australia Announces Plans to Cut Greenhouse Gas Emissions

To the disappointment of environmentalists who had lobbied for more, Australia announced Monday that they plan to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 5 to 15% by 2020. The Australian government said the final target would depend on whether developed and developing countries like China and India could agree to binding reductions under a new UN climate treaty next year.

From The New York Times:

If the world acts together to forge deep cuts, Australia will reduce its emissions by 15 percent of its 2000 levels over 10 years starting in 2010. If there is no agreement, Australia will cut emissions by 5 percent over the same period.

No matter what the short-term target is, the government said it was committed to reducing emissions by 60 percent from 2000 levels by 2050.

“There are many obstacles to achieving a strong international agreement by the end of the next negotiating round,” the report said. “However, the least responsible path that Australia could take would be to do nothing while we wait to see how the rest of the world acts.”

The announcement drew sharp criticism from nearly all of Australia’s major environmental groups, which had been pushing for a short-term cut of at least 25 percent.

Without the (paltry) 5 to 15% cuts announced Monday, Prime Minister Rudd said Australia’s emissions would grow by about 20% by 2020. He also stated that because of Australia’s growing population, mostly from immigration, a 5% cut would represent a 27% decrease in the country’s per capita emissions from 2000 to 2020.

But, now is not the time for governments to be patting themselves on the back for deciding not to sit back and do nothing. 5% is not an acceptable target, and it is indeed extremely frustrating and disappointing to learn that they may set such a low goal. Even 15% is not good enough. We need much stronger action than this.

Link [The New York Times]

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