Australia Has Pledged To Decrease Emissions By 15%

Australia, highly criticized by environmentalists for not signing the Kyoto Protocol,  has vowed to try to cut emissions by 5%-15% by the year 2020. Kevin Rudd, the 26th and current Prime Minister of Australia and federal leader of the centre-left Australian Labor Party (ALP), says that this plan will not affect a previous commitment to slash carbon emissions responsible for global warming by 60% by the year 2050.

Australia is the worlds largest developed carbon outputer per capita.  Rudd goes on to state that Australia is the biggest loser in a warmer world and that “Without action on climate change, Australia faces a future of parched farms, bleached reefs and empty reservoirs.”  

European leaders committed to a 20% reduction in greenhouse gasses.  Both these targets fall short of the cuts of 25%-40% by 2020, demanded by the scientists contributing to the UN’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, in order to avoid a high risk of catastrophic climate change.  The cuts are based on outputs from the year 2000.  The lower targets announced by Australia today will hurt Australia’s reputation even more than the refusal to sign the Kyoto Protocol had tarnished it in the past.