Australia accused of unrealistic goals for COP21
Lack of cooperation by Australian government to mitigate climate issues could devastate Climate talks in Paris next year
The Australian government have been accused of composing unrealistic requirements for participation in the global climate change agreement held in Paris next year.
The Australian Minister for Trade and Investment, Andrew Robb said a Paris agreement must include binding targets to prevent the climate talk meetings to “amount to nothing more than aspirations”.
According to experts countries may have to dedicate their new post-2020 greenhouse emission reduction targets in domestic law.
However attempts to include these targets in the legally binding international treaty would force the world’s two biggest emitters, the US and China, to take a step back which will devastate the entire process.
Yet, an associate professor at the Australian National University’s Crawford School says “Legally binding instruments can build confidence that countries will act on the commitments they make internationally. However, the legal form of an international agreement does not determine its effectiveness. The most binding treaty will do little to address climate change if some major emitters like the US and China do not participate”.
The absence of the legal binding is expected to encourage a more modest approach to global action.
President Obama has refused to support US participation in the legally binding agreement and have instead made a serious domestic commitment to implement the ambitious objectives embodied in the Xi-Obama Agreement. China also shadow the US decision.
Although the Australian government has claimed to pay for climate adaptation and mitigation through its foreign aid budget, it has not provided figures or documentations for this contribution and struggles to cooperate with the legally binding agreement and the domestic political agreement.
Australia revealed that they will support a post-2020 emission reduction target before the Paris talks. But, the absence at COP19 in Poland predicts a struggle to deliver cuts than the 5% reduction promised by 2020.
According to the Climate Change Authority, COP21 will deviate from the conventional commitments established at the Kyoto Protocol to initiate a more realistic approach.
