While you were putting up your tinsel and heading to the beach, the Federal Government quietly updated its global climate change pledge.
But before you get too excited - the new targets aren’t terribly different from the original.
Policy experts and campaigners have criticised Australia’s new climate commitment as falling well short of what’s needed to slow down the warming of our planet.
In late December last year, the Federal Government updated and formally submitted its climate pledge to the United Nations. This document states that Australia is committed to slashing greenhouse gas emissions by 26 to 28 per cent below 2005 levels by 2030.
Sound familiar? Advocates like Dr Martin Rice, head of research at the Climate Council of Australia say that’s the same goal we had in 2015, and called it a "disgrace".
“Australia pretty much gave us a Christmas present that no one wanted, it's an old one, they just repackaged it… it's one that we don't like, it's not based on science,” he said.
“It's a piddly wee target and it sets us on course to about a three degree [increase in global temperatures].”
You may be wondering why the Government submitted an update that’s basically the same thing it’s been saying for the last five years. It’s because the United Nations’ climate pledge, known as the Paris Agreement, works on a five-yearly cycle, with the expectation that signatory countries will update their targets as they make progress in achieving its targets.
Other signatories have submitted improved targets, including the European Union, which raised its goal from a 40 per cent emissions reduction based on 1990 levels, to 55 per cent.
The UK also increased its target from 57 per cent to 68 per cent below 1990 levels. According to Climate Watch, 82 countries have pledged that they intend to improve their targets from their original commitments.
How’s Australia doing with its targets?
In 2015, the Government's main climate change advisory body recommended an emissions reduction target of 45-65 per cent below 2005 levels.
Under the Paris Agreement, member countries are supposed to adopt a target to cut national emissions and submit a roadmap for how they’re going to do it. The goal is to stop the world’s temperatures rising above two degrees celsius on average from pre-industrial levels (before humans started sending massive amounts of carbon into the atmosphere).
The Australian Government said we’re on track to “meet and beat” the 26 to 28 per cent target “without relying on past overachievement”.
Overachievement in this case refers to carryover credits, a loophole the Government previously said it would use to meet its 2030 target.
Basically, Australia did better than expected with its emissions targets under a previous international climate agreement called the Kyoto Protocol, and it wanted to use that as a “credit” to meet its next round of targets.
Dr Rice said the Government shouldn’t get props for not “cheating”.
“It's like the Wallabies winning a game, and then saying, okay, I want to keep that result for the next game,” he said.
“Well done Australia, you’ve essentially agreed not to cheat.”
No 2050 commitment
The Federal Government has also been criticised for its failure to commit to getting our emissions down to zero by 2050, which 18 countries and the EU have outlined.
Prime Minister Scott Morrison sidestepped the question of whether we’d commit to net zero by 2050, instead saying he’s aiming to get to zero “as soon as possible”.
Tony Wood, Energy Program Director at the Grattan Institute, said Australia was nowhere near achieving that goal.
“Our annual emissions reduction would have to go up from about three to four million tonnes a year to about 18 to 20 million tonnes a year, every year from now until 2050,” he said.
“That just shows you how big the challenge is.”
Mr Wood said pressure would mount on Australia to improve its targets in the lead up to the next major climate talks to be held in Glasgow this November.
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“There will be mounting pressure on all countries… particularly if the US re-signs to the Paris Agreement, and recommits to a target, which is demonstrably quite strong, and they announced policies to achieve it,” he said.
Last December US President-elect Joe Biden pledged to rejoin the Agreement “on Day One of my presidency” and committed to net-zero emissions by 2050.
A spokesperson for Angus Taylor, the Minister for Energy and Emissions Reduction defended the Government’s position.
“On a per capita or emissions intensity basis, Australia’s 2030 target is more ambitious than those adopted by France, Norway, Canada, Japan or South Korea,” the spokesperson said in a statement.
“Since 2005, Australia’s emissions have fallen faster than the G20 average, the OECD average and faster than Japan, New Zealand, and the United States.”
Australia will also release a long-term greenhouse gas emissions reduction strategy ahead of COP26, the global climate talks in Glasgow.