The government has released the latest quarterly emission figures for Australia, showing rising LNG pollution and a meagre 0.4% decline in emissions, confirming that expanding gas production is stopping the country from achieving meaningful emissions reductions and putting even Labor’s weak targets at risk.
The impact of the floods on coal has temporarily reduced fugitive emissions and emissions were also reduced from La Nina rainfall increasing forest growth, but the long term sectoral trend is for emissions from LNG and coal exports to keep increasing.
Coal, gas exports and transport pollution have to be a big focus of climate action if we are to bend the emissions curve down.
To meet our Paris Targets, Australia needs to achieve a 75% emissions reduction by 2030. A 0.4% decline in emissions shows we will blow right past not just this target, but Labor’s woeful 43% goal.
Greens Leader Adam Bandt MP said:
“The latest quarterly emission figures again show the long-term trend of gas pollution rising, putting our country on a fast-track to climate collapse” Mr Bandt said.
“Gas is as dirty as coal, pollution from gas exports is rising, but Labor still wants to open new gas mines.
“These figures confirm that Labor cannot open new coal and gas mines.
“Even the Department’s own report admits that this pitiful performance is because of the “continued growth in the production and export of LNG”.
“On these figures, if Labor keeps opening more coal and gas, Labor won’t meet even its own recklessly low pollution targets, let alone help keep warming below the Paris Agreement goals.
“At current rates, Labor won’t meet their 2030 target until 2080. By that point, they’ll have locked in 3 degrees of warming, destroying our agricultural industry, killing the reef, and causing untold levels of human suffering, all before Labor even hits their first climate checkpoint.
“The increase in transport emissions shows the government needs to accelerate plans for vehicle emissions standards instead of keeping Australia in the slow lane.
“Once again the growth in renewables is the shining light and ending native forest logging could make land based emission cuts even stronger.”