South Australia expects to cut emissions by 50 per cent by 2030 — RenewEconomy
South Australia Liberal government aims to cut emissions by more than 50 per cent by 2030, double the federal Coalition government’s target. The post South Australia expects to cut emissions by 50 per cent by 2030 appeared first on RenewEconomy.
via South Australia expects to cut emissions by 50 per cent by 2030 — RenewEconomy
Antinuclear 
I note that the announcement refers to SA’s “emissions” not “PER CAPITA emissions”.
Just for the sake of argument, let’s assume that the % reduction of TOTAL emissions is steady e.g., 3% per year starting from the beginning of the base year of 2005 and continuing at that rate until the beginning of 2030. The TOTAL emissions by the beginning of 2030 will be 48% of that at the beginning of 2005 (that is, a more than 50% reduction).
Presumably the population of SA will grow in that time period. Lets assume that population grows at the rate of 3% per yr.
Under these conditions the PER CAPITA emissions by the beginning of 2030 will be 24% of that at the beginning of 2005. There is a factor of 2 ratio of the reductions of TOTAL and PER CAPITA emissions.
A different choice of assumed rates of TOTAL emissions reduction and population growth will give different results, but the above gives the general idea. The message is that we must be very clear about whether we are talking about TOTAL or PER CAPITA emissions. The latter is the most appropriate target because that is the most reasonable way to compare one country, or one state, or one council area vs another.
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