The Australian government announced its commitment to achieving the goal of net-zero carbon emissions by 2050 but put no effort in establishing any legislation to step towards the goal, according to PV-tech on October 26. The Prime Minister of Australia Scott Morrison also stated that the country would keep using fossil fuels as its main energy sources, regardless of the pressure from other countries like the US to call for effective actions to limit global warming. In terms of tackling the carbon issues, Morrison added that the government would continue focusing on some projects designed for offsetting climate-related pollutions, such as purchasing international carbon offsets. Considering that, many environmental bodies like the country’s Clean Energy Council criticized Morrison’s plan for vanishing over the fact of resisting clean energy.

According to the Department of Industry, Service, Energy and Resources, Australia’s climate change strategy is a technology-led approach to emissions reduction by investing in low-carbon technologies and developing low emissions technology policies. However, the energy supply structure is the true obstacle for Australia to contributing to a true net-zero future by 2050. The World Resources Institution (WRI) shows that when measuring greenhouse gas emission on a per capita basis, Australia is the sixth-largest polluter in the world. Additionally, according to the statistic from the International Energy Agency (IEA), Australia relies heavily on fossil fuels, accounting for 91.5% of the total nation’s power mix by 2020. Meanwhile, the Australian government encourages companies to explore more oil and gas by giving out more permits. In September 2021, Australian companies planned to invest AUD5.1bn in extracting offshore gas for the next six years, equivalent to power generation from renewables with a capacity of 2.5 gigawatts (GW). Thus, it is reasonable to criticize Australia’s new commitment as an advertising move with no substance to deal with the real problem.

Sources:

https://www.pv-tech.org/australia-commits-to-net-zero-by-2050-but-avoids-legislation/ https://www.pv-tech.org/australian-federal-governments-arena-plan-open-to-serious-legal-challenge-says-expert/

https://www.pv-tech.org/australia-spending-enough-money-on-outdated-oil-and-gas-exploration-to-fund-2-5gw-of-renewables-says-report/

https://ca.finance.yahoo.com/news/australia-commits-net-zero-emissions-022959813.html

https://www.iea.org/countries/australia https://www.industry.gov.au/policies-and-initiatives/australias-climate-change-strategies