Adam Bandt says analysis of emissions targets for electricity sector ‘shows the cost of caving in to the climate deniers’

The Turnbull government’s proposed emissions targets for the electricity sector would mean every car would need to be taken off the roads immediately, or every cow would need to be taken off farms from next year, for Australia to reach the targets it committed to as part of the Paris agreement, according to analysis conducted by the Greens.

While neither measure is a plausible course of action, the Greens say it reveals the significance of the gap left by the weak ambition of the government’s plans for the national energy guarantee.

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This week the government released projections for Australia’s greenhouse gas emissions to 2030. They showed that based on existing policies, far from any cuts being made, the country’s rising greenhouse gas pollution would continue to increase to 2030 and beyond. It revealed Australia needed to find ways to abate 868m tonnes of CO2-equivalent greenhouse gas emissions between 2021 and 2030.

Australia's greenhouse gas emissions projections versus its targets Australia’s greenhouse gas emissions projections versus its targets

Those projections did not include the cuts that would be achieved if the government’s proposed national energy guarantee was implemented, or savings from vehicle emissions regulations, which have not been agreed to by the government.

Australia has committed to reduce its overall greenhouse gas emissions by 26% to 28% below 2005 levels by 2030 and it is widely accepted the majority of cuts would need to be made in the electricity sector, as it is the easiest and most cost-effective place to make large emissions cuts.

But the government has refused to consider emissions cuts in the national electricity market greater than 26%.

Independent analysis conducted by the Greens shows that reducing emissions in the electricity sector by that much would still leave at least 583m tonnes of CO2-equivalent greenhouse gas to be abated by 2030, through the rest of the economy.

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“The government’s own data shows the cost of caving in to the climate deniers on the backbench,” said Adam Bandt, Greens climate change and energy spokesman. “Because the government’s energy policy is now so coal-focused, it places an impossible burden on agriculture, transport and industry.

“At some point the penny will drop with the Nationals and they’ll be livid. By dropping the ball on energy, the government has left agriculture and transport with ridiculously large tasks, like taking every cow out of every farm or taking every car off every road, just to meet our paltry Paris commitments.”

Janet Rice, the Greens transport spokeswoman, said: “The Turnbull government’s commitment to reducing transport pollution has been woeful so far. For all his selfies on trains, the PM has taken no meaningful action on public transport, zero-carbon electric vehicles, setting strong vehicle efficiency standards, or unchoking our clogged cities.”

Figures released today by the Carbon Markets Institute showed the low-ambition target in the electricity sector would threaten a massive 27 gigawatts of renewable energy projects proposed for development across Australia. Despite those projects being planned, the proposed emissions target in the national energy guarantee would not provide the policy incentive to get the projects built.