Australia is on track to meet the Paris Agreement without carbon credits

Australia announced on Thursday that it is on track to meet its target of reducing emissions by 26 to 28 percent of its emissions by 2030 compared to 2005 levels, set in the Paris Agreement, without using carbon credits from other commitments.

According to the Technology Investment Roadmap, the projections will be 436 million tons of CO2-e in 2030, which is 29 percent below 2005 levels, and with what would exceed the objective of the Agreement, points out the report of the projections of this year published in the portal of the Ministry of Energy and Emissions of Australia.

These projections do not include carbon credits for meeting previous emission reduction commitments intended to be used by the government of Australia, one of the most polluting countries either “per capita” or if its fossil fuel exports are taken into account.

“We have a clear plan to meet and exceed our 2030 target and the updated projections reflect Australia’s strong performance,” Angus Taylor, energy and emissions minister, whose government has been criticised for not having a clear climate policy, said in a statement.

Carbon credits or credits are a mechanism, created within the Kyoto Protocol, which aimed to encourage companies and government entities to decontaminate the planet because, by acquiring these credits, they reduce their carbon emissions and promote projects such as reforestation and the preservation of forests, among other measures.

However, its critics claim that it does not serve to care for the environment and encourages speculation since the credits, whose unit is equivalent to a ton of carbon dioxide that has been left to emit into the atmosphere, can be negotiated in the international market.

Taylor also highlighted the investment of some 3,953 million dollars (3,271 million euros) by the government, which promotes the export of fossil fuels as a key to its economic recovery after the pandemic, in the reduction of emissions in the country, which includes investments in low-emission technologies.

The Nairobi-based UN Environment Programme (UNEP) indicated in its 2020 Emissions Gap report that G20 countries are not “collectively” on track to meet their targets.

He also stressed that the European Union and the United Kingdom, as well as Japan, China, Argentina, India, Mexico, Russia, South Africa and Turkey, are on track to comply, but not Australia, Brazil, Canada, South Korea and the United States, so he recommended “greater actions”.

The Australian announcement was released two days before a virtual meeting of international leaders convened by the UN together with the United Kingdom on the fifth anniversary of the signing of the Paris Agreement without enough having been done so that the temperature of the planet does not exceed 1.5 degrees.

Source: The Vanguard