FINAL: 21 December 2009
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Australia |
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Climate Change - the road to Copenhagen |
Note: This is the end of year report for Australia’s role in the negotiations and not a scorecard for the overall outcome of the Copenhagen meeting.
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| GLOBAL GOALS Australia should support a commitment to limit warming to 1.5°C and stabilise greenhouse gases at 350ppm CO2e or less. The early steps to reach this are similar to those required to reach 450ppm CO2e. | B- | Working with some of the smarter kids, but failed to lend a hand to Pacific Island friends In Copenhagen Australia joined with the EU and supported the global goal of keeping warming below 2°C , and supported a downwards emissions trend to occur by 2020 (essential for any chance of avoiding 2°C ). However Australia put pressure on some of the Pacific Island countries to drop their call for a goal of limiting warming to 1.5°C. Sadly the Copenhagen accord only gives consideration to the goal of 1.5°C as part of a 2015 review. |
| CUTTING GREENHOUSE EMISSIONSAustralia should increase its targets to a 25% minimum and 40% in the context of a strong international agreement. | C- | Average performance, and has not shown any improvement recently Although Australia spoke in support of science-based targets throughout the two weeks in Copenhagen, in the final hours it supported the ‘Copenhagen Accord’ despite the absence of any emissions targets, global or national. Australia retained its range of a 5–25% cut in our emissions by 2020, but should have dropped the weak 5 and 15% targets. |
| CLIMATE FINANCE Australia must support a global target of at least $150 billion per year to help developing countries reduce emissions and adapt to the impacts of climate change, funded from new initiatives like a levy on international shipping and flights. | C+ | Now lofty goals, but it’s not clear how it will reach them Australia did fill in some of the gaps in its climate finance policy during Copenhagen, by supporting some of the tools for climate finance such as a levy on shipping and flights. We supported the Copenhagen accord and its goals for short term finance of $30 billion between 2010 and 2012, and $100 billion per year by 2020. However, ultimately neither Australia nor the accord addressed how these funds will be raised or whether countries will be obligated to contribute. |
| NEW CLIMATE TREATY Australia needs to push for the Kyoto Protocol to continue and for a new, bigger, better agreement that includes the US. | B+ | Seems enthusiastic, just needs to learn from friends in the Pacific During Copenhagen Australia pushed for a legally binding instrument (a treaty) integrated with an extension of the Kyoto Protocol to be concluded by December 2010 or before. This was helpful, but in the end Copenhagen failed to deliver on this essential step towards a stronger global treaty on climate change. To get an ‘A’, Australia should have backed the proposal by Pacific Island countries and pushed more strongly for an extension of the Kyoto Protocol. |
| LAND USE AND FORESTRY EMISSIONS Australia should confirm that it will not try and fiddle the rules on land based emissions in order to achieve 2020 targets. Action in the industrial sector is critical to transitioning to a low carbon economy. | E | Skipped the exam, will have to resit the test with the whole class next year The two weeks of negotiations over the rules for land based emissions have been fraught with proposals that were not transparent and created loopholes. Australia was unhelpful in this area and did little to reassure other countries that we would not seek to fiddle the rules to make meeting our emission reduction targets easier. In Copenhagen countries put this issue in the too hard basket and failed to reach any decision. |
| PROTECTING FORESTS OVERSEAS Australia should support a goal to reduce emissions from deforestation to at least 75% below 1990 levels by 2020. | C+ | Has made some progress but the class project was not handed in on time Australia made some good first steps by announcing AUS$120million over 3 years towards avoiding deforestation. However this falls short of the amount needed in the short term, and plans for a longer term solution are not ready to roll. Copenhagen failed to agree on anything more than general principles for avoiding deforestation. |
A = A leader; keep up the good work
B = Doing well, but room for improvement
C = Average performance
D = Disappointing result
E = Completely unsatisfactory