Isramart : Australia keeps 5 to 25 pct CO2 cut range for accord

Isramart news:
Australia will stick to its 5 to 25 percent emissions cut range as part of a global commitment to fight climate change under the controversial "Copenhagen accord", the government said on Wednesday.

But any decision to opt for a 15 or 25 percent target depended in part on strong steps by India and China to reduce the growth of their greenhouse gas emissions, a statement said.

The accord, a non-binding political agreement sealed at the end of last month's U.N. climate talks, asks nations to submit their goals to reduce planet-warming emissions to the world body by a Jan. 31 deadline.

The goals would be formally included in two appendices in the accord, one for rich nations and one for developing countries.

"Consistent with our commitment to do no more and no less than the rest of the world, we are today submitting our existing target range: 5 per cent unconditional, with up to 15 per cent and 25 per cent both conditional on the extent of action by others, as set out in May last year," Climate Change Minister Penny Wong said in the statement.

But a decision to move above 5 percent would not happen until the "level of global ambition becomes sufficiently clear, including both the specific targets of advanced economies and the verifiable emissions reduction actions of China and India", the statement said.

It said the credibility of those commitments and actions must also be established, for example, through a strong global agreement at a major U.N. climate conference in Mexico at the end of the year.

The accord disappointed many nations hoping for a new and tougher legally binding climate pact. It failed to set tough emissions curbs for all major emitting nations by 2020 and beyond and instead asked nations to submit their plans by Jan 31.

The run-up to Copenhagen, originally meant to be the deadline to agree on a new pact, led to many major emitters to announce their 2020 emissions curbs, including top carbon polluter China as well as India, Brazil and Indonesia.
So far there is no sign of nations backing away from these but also no sign of any nation announcing deeper-than-planned reductions.