Australia criticized over greenhouse-gas reduction target

Australia has been criticized over its new greenhouse-gas reduction target which lags behind the ambitions of most wealthy countries.Lawmakers in Prime Minister Tony Abbott’s conservative government on Tuesday agreed on a target of curbing carbon gas emissions to at least 26 percent below 2005 levels by 2030. The target could go as high as 28 percent, Abbott said. The target scales back a draft proposal to reduce Australian greenhouse gas emissions by 30 percent in that period. Australia is one of the largest carbon emitters on a per capita basis due to its reliance on coal-fired power plants, and critics say the move will do little to bring it in line with ambitious targets set by the United States and Europe.

This is fairly and squarely in the middle of comparable economies.

Tony Abbott

Australia’s commitment to global cooperation on tackling climate change has come under question since Abbott’s government was elected in 2013. Last year, Australia repealed a three-year-old carbon tax on the nation’s worst greenhouse-gas polluters. Abbott announced on Tuesday he would not attend a United Nations climate summit in Paris in December when world leaders will attempt to forge a new global agreement on reducing emissions after 2020. Critics argue that the economic importance of the coal industry also explains why Abbott opposes wind turbines on the Australian landscape.

Weak enough to reinforce Australia’s new reputation as the world’s foot-dragger.

Prof. Steven Sherwood, director of the Climate Change Research Center at University of New South Wales,

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