Australia’s emissions have fallen to their lowest level for a single quarter in 10 years, according to the Department of the Environment’s latest quarterly update of the National Greenhouse Gas Inventory.
Emissions fell by half a million tonnes between the December Quarter 2014 and March Quarter 2015 – that’s a 0.4 per cent reduction in trend terms and 0.5 per cent on a seasonally adjusted basis.
These figures clearly show that it is possible to reduce emissions without Labor’s massive carbon tax which drives up electricity prices for Australian families, pensioners and businesses.
Our emissions per person are now at their lowest level in 25 years. Since 1990 Australia’s population has grown 39 per cent, yet emissions per capita have fallen by 29 per cent.
The Government’s post-2020 target announced last week will see emissions per person fall by at least 50 per cent on 2005 levels by 2030 – the largest reduction in the developed world on announced targets.
Australia’s emissions intensity has also dropped to its lowest level in 25 years. This is despite the economy more than doubling in size. Emissions intensity will fall by 64 per cent on 2005 levels under Australia’s post-2020 target.
We are on track to meet and beat our target of cutting Australia’s emissions by five per cent from 2000 levels by 2020, and we have a strong and credible target for the post-2020 period.
Labor has the narrow minded view that the only way to combat climate change is to hike up electricity and gas prices.
Labor’s own modelling shows that their supercharged carbon tax soars to $209 per tonne and slashes Australia’s GDP by $633 billion by 2030.
This massive hit to our economy was confirmed last week by the Department of the Environment. Bill Shorten can no longer hide from this shocking number.
Only the Coalition is committed to taking serious action to tackle climate change without hurting Australian families and businesses in the process.
In the first auction alone, the Emissions Reduction Fund contracted 47 million tonnes of emissions reduction – that’s four times the amount achieved during the entire two-year lifespan of the carbon tax experiment.
And we’ll be cutting emissions even further with the second Emissions Reduction Fund auction scheduled for 4-5 November 2015.
The latest Quarterly Update of the National Greenhouse Gas Inventory is now available: http://www.environment.gov.au/climate-change/greenhouse-gas-measurement/publications/quarterly-update-australias-national-greenhouse-gas-inventory-march-2015
(ENDS)