Australia needs to accelerate efforts to reduce carbon dioxide emissions in order to hit its own targets, the country’s Climate Change Authority said today.
Currently, Australia’s emissions are falling in line with plans, but these plans envisage a reduction of between 62% and 70% from 2005 levels by 2035. The country is currently on track to achieve a reduction of “just” 48% from 2005 levels, the Climate Change Authority said, as quoted by Reuters.
Australia’s efforts to decarbonise have affected the reliability of energy supply, prompting a backlash that led the main opposition party in the country to say earlier this month it would drop the emission reduction targets if elected.
The Liberal Party, which was crushed by the Labour Party in this year’s general election, vowed to remain in the Paris Agreement and work on slashing Australia’s emissions, but without sacrificing household prosperity for the sake of reaching net zero.
“Our emissions reduction goals will never come at the expense of Australian families and this is the principle that will guide every decision we take,” Opposition Leader Sussan Ley said, as carried by ABC News. “We remain committed to Paris and we made it very clear — it isn’t our policy to set long-term targets, but net zero would be a welcome outcome,” Ley added.
Australia is one of the world’s top three exporters of LNG, and it is also a major producer of coal. Industry advocates warn that decarbonisation efforts would harm some of Australia’s biggest export revenue contributors, and successive governments seem to have recognised this by stopping short of decapitating gas production.
Indeed, just this year, the Labour government gave the go-ahead to an extension for Woodside Energy’s North West Shelf project that would see gas production continue until 2070.
By Irina Slav for Oilprice.com
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