Can you cut 1 Tonne of carbon pollution out of your life?
Take the challengeOur Prime Minister Tony Abbott believes that Australia and his government do not get enough credit for the fantastic environmental work they have done...
Mr Abbott told a media conference on Monday that Australia's emissions reductions targets for Paris this year will not be made public until after a cabinet meeting at the beginning of August.
Abbott states that Australia sticks to their commitments, which sets us apart from other countries.
Well, I think Australia makes their commitments way to low. So low that it's like they don't even need to try to meet them.
When we compare Australia's mere 13% by 2020 to the pledges countries are releasing for Paris 2015. Australia is the only developed country that has given no indication of what level of emissions reductions it is prepared to take on.
According to the World Resources Unit,
Japan has released their pledge to lower carbon dioxide emissions per unit of GDP by 60% to 65% from the 2005 leveel by 2030.
New Zealand commits to reduce GHG emissions to 30% below 2005 levels by 2030.
Norway is committed to a target of an at least 40% reduction of greenhouse gas emissions by 2030 compared to 1990 levels.
Switzerland commits to reduce its greenhouse gas emissions by 50 percent by 2030 compared to 1990 levels.
That is only a few of the pledges just to give you an idea of how the rest of the world is thinking about cutting carbon. Down here in Australia, our government thinks that 13% for a country that produces one of the highest number of CO2 emissions per capita is credible? Not where I'm standing Mr Abbott.
Last year Australia became the first country in the world to axe a price on carbon when the Abbott government repealed Labor's carbon tax and replaced it with Direct Action, which is a policy to pay polluters to reduce their emissions.
We hope to see some sort of spontaneous shift in consciousness and for an actual emissions reduction target from Australia, one that we can be proud of.
This is part of our Paris 2015 coverage.
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