Peter Dutton, Opposition leader has been accused of making plans to break Australia’s commitment to the landmark Paris climate agreement after he said he would reject the country’s 2030 greenhouse gas reduction target.
According to available reports, Dutton told the Weekend Australian that he would oppose the legislated 2030 emissions target – a 43% cut compared with 2005 levels – at the next election but remain committed to reaching net zero emissions by 2050.
Also, Dutton reportedly conceded that the Coalition’s commitment to introduce nuclear power in Australia would not lead to plants being built before 2040, a point made by experts, and critics who have accused the opposition of planning to delay action to address the climate crisis.
The opposition leader said that he would do more to promote the use of gas, a fossil fuel. He was quoted as saying there was “no sense in signing up to targets you don’t have any prospect of achieving”.
The News Corp story did not mention departmental projections that last year suggested the country was likely to make a 42% cut by 2030 based on an assessment of existing and announced policies. The government said it showed the 43% target was within reach.
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Climate diplomacy experts said Dutton’s position could break Australia’s 2015 commitment to the Paris agreement, under which nearly 200 countries said they would aim to limit global heating to well below 2C and attempt to limit it to 1.5C above preindustrial levels.
The Paris deal, agreed when the Coalition was in power, says countries will progressively increase their commitments, and that pledges will reflect a nation’s “highest possible ambition”.
Erwin Jackson, the policy director with the Investor Group on Climate Change and an observer at international climate negotiations since the 1990s, said the Paris agreement was “absolutely clear” that countries could not backslide on emissions targets.
Story was adapted from the Guardian.
