Antinuclear

The 28-nation European Union has announced that it would cut greenhouse gas emissions by at least 40 per cent on 1990 levels by 2030.  On Tuesday, US President Barack Obama formalised in a submission to the UN the United States’ commitment to cuts that were first revealed in a landmark announcement with China last year………

Assuming the US goal was unchanged from the pledge made by President Obama during a visit to China last October, Australia would need a much deeper goal than its current bipartisan aim of slicing gas emissions by 5 per cent of 2000 levels by 2020 to keep up, said Pep Canadell, a CSIRO research scientist and executive director of the Global Carbon Project.

“If you want the effort to be proportional to what US and Australia committed for the 2005-2020 period, it would be something like [a cut of] 17 per cent by 2025 [for Australia],” Dr Canadell said.

Australia joined Canada in holding off on making any commitments for now.

The Abbott government’s issues paper, released on Saturday, appears to lay the groundwork for Australia to argue for special treatment in the talks because of the country’s heavily resource-based economy………

Emissions from power plants in the 12 months to September totalled 181.9 million tonnes, or about 1.5 million tonnes more than for the year to June.

If the emissions shift were to be maintained, it would increase emissions from electricity generators by about 4 per cent this year, Hugh Saddler, principal consultant with Pitt & Sherry, said.

John Connor, chief executive of the Climate Institute, said it was a poor showing by Australia to fall short of the March 31 goal for releasing its post-2020 target.”Australia, as a wealthy country with over 20 years’ experience in detailed climate policy analysis, should be amongst those – including Mexico – who have met that deadline,” Mr Connor said……. http://www.theage.com.au/environment/climate-change/australia-not-among-rich-nations-releasing-post2020-emission-goals-on-time-20150401-1mc2t2.html