Carbon emissions will rise without action

Emissions projections released today by the Department of Climate Change and Energy Efficiency show that Australia’s emissions will rise steeply without decisive and effective new policy action, said Labor Member for Grayndler, Anthony Albanese.

The report, Australia’s Emissions Projections, takes a detailed account of more than 30 policies and measures to assess the contribution of existing policies to reducing Australia’s carbon pollution. It predicts that without further action, emissions will continue to rise.

Included in the report are the Renewable Energy Target and measures which are part of the National Strategy on Energy Efficiency. It does not include the impact of a carbon price or the Carbon Farming Initiative.

“The forecast is for 2020 levels to be 24 percent higher than 2000 and 2030 levels to be 44 percent higher,” said Mr Albanese.

“This Labor Government is committed to a cut in carbon pollution of at least 5 per cent below 2000 levels by 2020. In effect, this means we need to cut around 160 million tonnes of CO2 equivalent in 2020 – the equivalent of reducing emissions from generating electricity by 75 per cent.”

“Our existing measures have already delivered a cut of 109 million tonnes but to meet our 2020 target, we need a carbon price and we need it soon.”

Mr Albanese called on all parties to join with the government to deliver genuine action on climate change.

Copies of Australia’s Emissions Projections can be downloaded at: www.climatechange.gov.au.