Climate and Energy minister Chris Bowen declared 'Australia is on track to deliver on our legislated targets' in his annual climate statement. But new data challenges that optimism.
Climate Change and Energy Minister Chris Bowen recently declared that Australia was "on track" to meet its climate change targets. Shortly after making this announcement, new data challenged that optimism.
Also pouring cold water on Mr Bowen's parade was Matt Kean, chair of the government's independent Climate Change Authority, who said: "Emissions need to fall faster to reach Australia's 2030 target."So now we've got all the data, what does it actually show?Here are six charts that tell the story.The government had been reporting cuts to our emissions pretty consistently since 2005.
Those numbers are actually unreliable. So much so that the government changes its mind about those emissions every single year. To achieve that, the government will need policies to drive the transition to renewables to 82 per cent by 2030. So, far from being a meaningful projection about how the electricity system will lower its emissions, the cut is simply assumed — and so are state-based renewable targets.The federal government has committed to underwrite investment in the renewable generators themselves, but that can only work if massive transmission projects get built despite some communities opposing them, and if the workforce to build the new infrastructure is trained up and ready to go.
Earlier this year, the Climate Change Authority released a report on this, and it didn't mince its words. It said, "Across all sectors, a significant and urgent ramp up in effort, investment and coordination is required and there are barriers that will need to be overcome if Australia is to achieve its target."It looks like policies to build renewables peter out about 2030. And as we've seen, the land sector emissions have stopped helping already.
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