Australia’s Weak Climate Pledge Draws Instant Derision

Long recognized as a laggard on climate, Australia does little to burnish its image with a meek plan to reduce emissions.

Australia on Monday submitted a modest emissions-reduction pledge to the United Nations negotiating body on climate change.  It was met by a disparaging chorus of critics who said it did not shoulder a fair load in the world’s struggle to keep global warming within safe limits.

Australia, a leading producer of coal with an unusually high per-capita output of carbon dioxide, has been viewed as a laggard in the climate fight for decades, especially since its government reversed course and abandoned a tax on carbon last year.

It now says it will reduce emissions 26 to 28 percent below the levels of 2005 by 2030, a rate of reduction that is less than promised by most leading industrial nations.
...
But climate experts, noting that each nation ought to be striving to meet ambitious targets given their own particular circumstances, said Australia owes the world much more.

The Climate Council, an Australian policy group, said in a detailed fact sheet that Australia’s goals "simply don’t represent a fair contribution to the world effort to bring climate change under control."

Australia would also be cutting back more slowly than most.  Europe’s cuts are much deeper, and U.S. emissions would drop much more quickly, according to their pledges.  Australia’s goals are even weaker than Canada’s, another straggler.

Read more at Australia’s Weak Climate Pledge Draws Instant Derision