Australia 'works' the greenhouse gas figures to suit itself

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ustralia is dramatically overstating its greenhouse gas forecasts and has done so for years, a new study has found, allowing promised climate targets to be met while the country does very little to actually reduce its emissions.

And it warned this continued over-statement was inflating the starting point for the government’s imminent and closely scrutinised pledge on Australia’s greenhouse reductions after 2020 and is likely to attract international attention.

The constant lowering of the estimated greenhouse emission reductions needed to meet Australia’s targets explained why the country was attacked as an international “free rider” by the former UN secretary general Kofi Annan and other international observers, and why at the same time it could claim to be meeting agreed reduction goals, the report’s authors said.

Read the full story on the Guardian - “Australia overstating greenhouse gas forecasts, making climate targets easier”