‘Serious questions' over whether Australia's emissions cuts are real

Methods used to pledge at least $1.15 billion in taxpayer-funded emissions cuts are under a cloud as officials probe whether the environmental benefits credited to the Coalition government’s flagship climate policy are genuine.

Critics say promised cuts to carbon emissions under the
federal government's central climate policy may not be genuine.

A former government official has told Fairfax Media that the scheme, the emissions reduction fund, has rightly focused on attracting participants to carbon-reducing projects such as revegetation, rather than assessing if the projects accurately estimated how much carbon was kept out of the atmosphere.

But critics say a lack of probity in the $2.55 billion Abbott-era policy mean it is impossible to know how much carbon reduction has actually occurred, casting doubt on the integrity of Australia’s contribution to international climate action.

Read Nicole Hasham’s story from The Age - “‘Serious questions' over whether Australia's emissions cuts are real.”