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Australian Climate Change Measures

The Australian Government is acting to reduce carbon pollution, create the jobs of the future and secure Australia’s future prosperity.

Through its commitment under the Kyoto Protocol, Australia is on target to slow growth of its carbon pollution emissions to 108 per cent of 1990 levels in the first compliance period. Progress against this target is tracked in Australia's National Greenhouse Accounts.

Further, the Government has set targets to reverse this trend and drive down Australia’s carbon pollution emissions. Its goal is to reduce emissions to 25 per cent below 2000 levels by 2020, if there is a fair contribution from all emitters around the world to take strong action to reduce the risk of dangerous climate change by restraining atmospheric concentrations of greenhouse gases to 450 parts per million. That’s reducing the average emissions of every Australian by almost a half over the next ten years.

If the world is unable to reach agreement on a 450 parts per million target, Australia still aims to reduce its emissions by between 5 and 15 per cent below 2000 levels by 2020.

To deliver these targets, the Government will introduce the Carbon Pollution Reduction Scheme in mid-2011.

Underlying the Government’s climate change policy are three pillars:
•  mitigation - to reduce Australia’s greenhouse gas emissions
•  adaptation - to adapt to the climate change we cannot avoid
•  global solution - to help shape a collective international response.

 

The National Greenhouse Strategy

  • Foster knowledge
  • Limit greenhouse gas emissions
  • Lay the foundations
  • Follow Module 4 of the NGS

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