Australian Target announced; 5% reduction by 2020
The Australian Government has just released its White Paper on the proposed Carbon Pollution Reduction Scheme and has set what can only be described as an entirely unambitious target of a 5% reduction by 2020. This compares unfavourably to the EU’s stated 20% by 2020, a target to be matched by incoming US President Obama. The Government has also announced that, if some sort of international agreement can be reached, whatever that means exactly, the target will be boosted to 15%. This is still far short of what is needed. The Government claims that,
Australia’s commitment of a 5-15 per cent reduction by 2020 is a serious and credible commitment to the global action required and is realistically attainable in the current circumstances. In the international context, the Australian Government’s medium term target range represents a significant contribution to the global effort.
Im sorry but how is such a pathetic target in any way a significant contribution to the global effort? It’s a joke and a poor one at that.
While this is a very disappointing result, it’s still streets ahead of the previous Government’s attitude which would have seen Australia’s emissions grow by 20% over 1990 levels by 2020. Being thankful for small mercies won’t generate much respect for Australia on the international stage however. — DS
January 13th, 2009 at 7:49 AM
Everyone knows you can’t manage what you don’t measure. The first step to reducing your footprint is to establish your baseline. Publishing a carbon report—and then tracking the results of your reduction efforts—on a public registry is also a great way to showcase your organization’s corporate social responsibility efforts. CSA just launched the GHG CleanStart™ Registry to help organizations measure, monitor and manage their carbon emissions. Check it out at http://www.csa.ca/carbonperformance.