A new Climate Transition report from the Practical Justice Initiative at UNSW reveals Australia – now the world's largest exporter of coal and gas – is increasing its contribution to global climate change.
Data released by the Office of the Chief Economist shows GHG emissions from Australia's exported fossil fuels have increased 4.4% between 2018 and 2019. Emissions from our exported fossil fuels are now greater than Germany's domestic emissions.
"Under our UN climate obligations, the massive emissions resulting from our fossil fuel exports aren't counted in Australia's national carbon budget, nor do we take responsibility for the impact these emissions are having globally," says the report's author Professor Jeremy Moss at UNSW Arts & Social Sciences.
"It's time to recognise and account for that impact as part of the global climate change crisis and how it's addressed."
Professor Moss says the lack of concern with the effect of our fossil fuel exports is underpinned by an outdated 'territorial' model of responsibility.
"Australian governments, both federal and state, seem to think responsibility stops at our border, yet this is not how Australia treats other exports. What happens to live sheep, medical waste, plastics and uranium are all rightly seen as at least partly our responsibility."
Ultimately, the reason countries and companies should take responsibility for exported emissions is a moral one, says Professor Moss.
"The big exporters, who are reaping enormous profits from the sale of coal, oil and gas are in part responsible for these emissions. Without the investment in, infrastructure and supply of these fuels, they would not be consumed."
Professor Moss notes that the next round of climate negotiations in 2021 should include a fossil fuel non-proliferation treaty as part of their emissions reduction commitments: 'no more new mines and gas fields'.
Key facts
· Australia's exported emissions have increased 4.4% between 2018 and 2019.
· In 2019, the emissions from Australian fossil fuel exports were 1.4 times greater than Germany's domestic emissions.
· In 2019 Australia's exported emissions were 1.4 times greater than all the CO2 emissions produced by the 2019/2020 summer bushfires.
· Every Australian is paying $1,832 per year for fossil fuel subsidies compared to the one-off payment of around $78 for bushfire relief.
Read the Australia: an emissions super-power report at https://climatejustice.co/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/Australia-_-an-emissions-super-power.pdf
–
