Emissions Minister shrugs off climate rally concerns
Australia’s climate protesters get creative with their signs
The minister responsible for reducing Australia’s pollution levels has shrugged off calls for stronger climate action from hundreds of thousands of protesters.
Minister for Emissions Reductions Angus Taylor insists the nation is on track to reducing greenhouse gas emissions in line with the Paris target, which is a 26 to 28 per cent reduction on 2005 levels by 2030.
“This has to be globally coordinated action and Australia needs to do its bit, and we are,” Mr Taylor told
ABC’s Insiders programme on Sunday after climate protesters called for net-zero carbon emissions by 2030.
School students and workers took to the streets last Friday for climate action, with a transition to 100 per cent renewable energy also on their list of demands.
“It’s good to see we’ve got active citizens amongst our kids, we always encourage that,” Mr Taylor said.
“I don’t think it should be at the expense of their education.”
Australia’s emissions have increased over the past few years, largely on the back of rising LNG exports, as well as steel and aluminium production.
Mr Taylor has framed the rise of local emissions due to LNG as a positive for the world, arguing that countries like China, Japan and South Korea have lowered emissions by using LNG.
But he wouldn’t be drawn on how Australia’s coal exports are doing the opposite.
“Because the growth has been in LNG exports,” Mr Taylor said.
The minister says the coalition’s climate solutions package has mapped out “to the last tonne” how Australia will meet its 2030 targets. The government has set aside AU$2 billion (FJ$2.95bn) to pay companies for projects to reduce Australia’s emissions by 100 million tonnes, making up the largest portion of the plan.
The calculations also include credits from meeting previous emissions reduction targets under the Kyoto protocol.
However, the global rules allowing their use are yet to be finalised.