Essay by Eric Worrall

h/t Greg L; Despite claims of progress, genuine emissions cuts have stalled since 2020.

These six charts tell the story of Australia’s (slow) progress on climate change

By national science and environment reporter Michael Slezak
Mon 9 Dec

Climate Change and Energy Minister Chris Bowen recently declared that Australia was “on track” to meet its climate change targets. Shortly after making this announcement, new data challenged that optimism.

As a reminder of what Australia’s targets are — we have pledged to bring emissions 43 per cent below 2005 levels by 2030, and reach net zero emissions by 2050.

And in the past few weeks the federal government has released four reports on Australia’s greenhouse gas pollution that highlight just how far away we are from meeting those targets.

Also pouring cold water on Mr Bowen’s parade was Matt Kean, chair of the government’s independent Climate Change Authority, who said: “Emissions need to fall faster to reach Australia’s 2030 target.”

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The only really big cuts so far have happened in the land sector — by felling fewer trees, and planting more. (In the jargon of carbon reporting, that’s called Land Use, or more formally Land Use, Land Use Change and Forestry (LULUCF)).

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Those numbers are actually unreliable. So much so that the government changes its mind about those emissions every single year.

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Read more: https://www.abc.net.au/news/2024-12-09/australias-climate-change-policy-problem-in-charts/104689682

Annual revisions to the methodology, government sponsored ABC reporters questioning the narrative. Is it possible the government is just making the emissions cuts numbers up to suit their political narrative?

Surely not, after all they are a group of green politicians who are committed to climate action.