Australian Governments Climate Policies "Simply Embarassing"; Per Capita GHG Output 3x G20 Average
Australia is one of only two countries in the G20 not implementing or planning any sort of carbon price scheme, one of only four without a national policy to increase renewable energy and ranks last in cutting greenhouse gas emissions from transport, a new global report has found. The Climate Transparency report, an assessment by 14 organisations released before this weekends virtual G20 summit, said Australia ranked in the bottom bracket in every climate policy area considered except one.
The Morrison government was found to have no national policies to expand renewable energy, phase out coal, phase out fossil fuel cars, decarbonise heavy-duty vehicles, change the nature of mass public or freight transport, retrofit existing buildings or reduce deforestation. Meanwhile, Australia had one of the highest shares of fossil fuel use, per capita emissions three times the G20 average and ranked highly for vulnerability to climate risk.
The report comes as Australia is resisting pressure to set a target and introduce policies to reach net zero emissions by 2050. Once the US president-elect Joe Biden takes office, the target will be backed by more than 70 countries including all members of the G7, the European Union and China (which says it will be carbon-neutral before 2060).
Ursula Fuentes-Hutfilter, a senior policy adviser with Climate Analytics, which contributed to the report, said the report highlighted how poorly Australia was doing in addressing the climate crisis. When measured up against other G20 nations, the Australian governments record is simply embarrassing, she said.
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https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2020/nov/18/australias-climate-record-labelled-simply-embarrassing-and-among-worst-of-g20-nations