Government to unveil plans to cut carbon emissions by 26 per cent by 2030

Updated

The Federal Government will announce today it plans to cut carbon emissions by at least 26 per cent of 2005 levels by 2030.

It will take the proposal to an international meeting in Paris at the end of the year that aims to reach a global agreement on emissions reductions.

Australia is currently aiming to reduce emissions by 5 per cent by 2020, based on the level of emissions in 2000.

But the Coalition has not set out a plan for beyond 2020, despite previously flagging it would do so mid-year.

Changing the base year of emissions from 2000 to 2005 makes the Government's target easier to compare to the United States and Canada.

However, 2005 was a particularly high year of emissions — the second highest since 1990 when the Kyoto Protocol began.

Federal Cabinet met last night to discuss future plans.

The ABC understands Cabinet has agreed to set a target range from 26 per cent based on 2005 levels — and it is believed that could go up to 28 per cent depending on the economic impact.

The Government will argue it puts this in range of countries like Japan which has a target of 25 per cent and Canada 30 per cent.

Opposition climate change spokesman Mark Butler said the 26 per cent target put Australia at the back of the pack.

"Countries to which we often compare ourselves — like the US and the United Kingdom, Germany, countries like that — all have targets in an equivalent timeframe into the 40 per cent range, so 41 per cent for America, 48 per cent for the UK, mid-40s for Germany."

The policy was to be discussed at the Liberal and National party room meeting this morning.

Speaking ahead of the meeting, Finance Minister Mathias Cormann said the Government wanted policies that would not harm Australia's economic growth.

"It is very important for us to make a strong and responsible contribution to global efforts to reduce emissions, but one which does not detract from our economic prosperity moving forward," he said.

Coalition backbenchers respond to target plan

West Australian government MP Dennis Jensen, who has railed against climate policy changes, says he does not think emissions reduction targets are needed at all.

"People will know that I am not convinced on the science of massively increasing temperatures due to human activity," he told reporters in Canberra.

Dr Jensen said he was disappointed that the numbers had been provided to reporters before they had been explained to the backbench.

But another Coalition MP, Andrew Laming, said he expected the Coalition's announcement to be well-received by voters.

"We've been very, very keen to see ambitious targets taken and certainly anything between 25 and 30 per cent reductions on 2005 levels will comprise that," he said.

He said the figure was "responsible and credible" and a good starting point for the Paris negotiations.

"Don't forget it's what we're taking away from Paris that's important, not what we take to Paris," Dr Laming said.

The path to a global climate agreement

In the past year, countries have been announcing their Intended Nationally Determined Contributions (INDC) for beyond the end of the decade, summarising the emissions reduction targets they intend to commit to at the United Nations' Paris climate summit in December.

The pledges also form part of a commitment to keep global temperatures from rising 2 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial times (1880).

Currently, temperatures have risen by 0.85C between 1880 and 2012 according to the UN's Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change.

Earlier this year the ABC revealed the France was keeping the pressure on the Australian Government to maintain the 2C commitment.

"The French to their absolute credit have said the goal of making real progress towards the two-degree target and we support, endorse and embrace that," Environment Minister Greg Hunt said on Monday's AM program.

In July, the Climate Change Authority said if the Australian Government was to do its fair share to keep the 2C commitment, it would need to reduce emissions by 40 to 60 per cent by 2030, based on the level of emissions from the year 2000.

This translates to an emissions reduction of 45 to 65 per cent from the levels of the year 2005.

Notes:

The top end of Australia's target range of 26 per cent to 28 per cent has been included.

The US target is for a 26 per cent to 28 per cent reduction based on 2005 levels, however its longer-term target is for an 83 per cent reduction by 2050 based on 2005 levels. Based on this, the Climate Institute estimates the 2030 target will need to be 41 per cent based on 2005 levels.

The UK has committed to reduce emissions by at least 80 per cent in 2050 based on 1990 levels. Based on this, the Climate Institute estimates the 2030 target will need to be 48 per cent based on 2005 levels.

Topics: greenhouse-gas, environment, federal-government, australia

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