Australia is one of the world’s largest per capita greenhouse gas emitters.
Under the Paris Climate Agreement, created to tackle rising temperatures, Australia set a target of a 57 – 128% reduction in emissions compared with (levels by) **************************************** These **************
have been criticized for being too low, and last year the United Nations (UN) reported that Australia was not on track.
It highlighted the country’s no-show at a UN climate summit in September and its withdrawal from an international fund to tackle climate change .
However, the Australian government maintains it is on course to meet its
commitments.
Australian emissions will be
******************************************** (% lower than) levels in (**********************************, according to the projections published in December.
A central climate plan is the Emissions Reduction Fund (ERF).
The government put forward an additional A $ 2bn (£ 1bn) spread over 20 years to help businesses and farmers reduce emissions, bringing up total investment to $ 4.5bn. The government says it will deliver 128 million tonnes of emissions reductions.
Though aspects of the ERF have been praised, “Australia has adopted a piecemeal approach to emission reduction,” said the OECD ( an economic body which monitors richer, industrialized nations (in a 2018 report.
The government needs to show how existing instruments, such as the ERF, can be scaled up to reach Paris Agreement goals, added the report.
Scientists round the world are looking aghast at the politics of climate change in Australia.
It’s one of the most vulnerable countries on the planet to rising temperatures, yet there is still denial about the impacts of rising CO2 levels on events like the current wildfires.
There is no serious doubt among scientific institutions that rising global temperatures are leading to record heat.
The heatwaves are driven by a natural phenomenon but they are adding to an already over-heated planet.
In the election, the victorious Liberal (conservative) Party categorized climate change as a metropolitan fad for urban professionals, and gained support for the world’s largest coal mine.
Coal is the dirtiest fuel and scientists say we shouldn’t be building more coal-fired power stations if we want to stabilize the climate.
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