Aussie professor says Australia must cut emissions by 95% to meet global targets by 2050
Since Australia would be one of the biggest victims of climate change, the country must do more than other western nations to reduce its emissions, University of Melbourne Professor Ross Garnaut said on Wednesday.
The first witness of the months-long hearing of the Nuclear Fuel Cycle Royal Commission, Garnaut said that to reach the global goal of controlling rise in global temperature to not more than 2 degrees Celsius by 2050, industrialised nations must cut their total emissions by 90 percent. However, he has a taller order for Australia.
“It is clear what Australia’s pathway will need to be if we are to do our fair share in the global effort to reduce total emissions by about 95 per cent by the middle of the century,” quotes ABC. However, Garnaut cautioned that Canberra would not catch up with the international effort overnight.
He pinpoints electricity generation as the biggest source of emissions. However, it would be easier to meet the global target by decarbonising electricity generation in Australia. Many power plants in Australia still use carbon as source of fuel since the country is rich in the commodity, and even Prime Minister Tony Abbott favours the continued use of coal because of its contribution to the Aussie economy.
The consequence of failure to meet global emissions reductions targets would be “serious damage to global economic activity and political instability,” said the professor. He noted that China and India, two of the world’s biggest carbon emitters, are changing their polluting behaviours which could result in achieving greenhouse gas emission reduction targets.
The hearings, which would reach 30 hearing days until December, according to a press release from the commission, aims to study the possibility of expanding the nuclear industry in South Australia. The sessions would tackle climate change, energy policy, national electricity market, geology and hydrogeology.
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