OECD says we won’t meet emissions target

Australia needs a “stable, stronger and co-ordinated climate-change policy”, a new OECD report says.

The OECD Economic Survey of Australia for 2018 says Scott Morrison’s emissions targets are “insufficiently ambitious”.

Australia needs a “stable, stronger and co-ordinated climate change policy” and will not meet its Paris Agreement emissions reductions target, a new OECD report says.

The OECD Economic Survey of Australia for 2018 says Scott Morrison’s emissions targets are “insufficiently ambitious” and Australia remains among the top 10 carbon emitters per capita in the 34-strong economic group of OECD nations.

The report comes a week after Malcolm Turnbull called on the Coalition to revive the national energy guarantee he dumped in the dying days of his prime ministership, and accused a “minority of MPs” of trying to “blow up the governme­nt” over climate policy.

“As for many OECD countries, this target has been assessed as insufficien­tly ambitious to be consiste­nt with limiting global climat­e change to well below 2C, as required by the Paris Agreement,” the report reads. “Emissions projections from 2017 show these targets will not be reached.’’

The OECD report welcomes the lack of any commitment to build new coal-fired power plants, but criticises moves to expand coalmining. “No projects for new carbon-fired power plants are being pursue­d, which is welcome in the context of reaching the ­climate objecti­ves of the Paris Agreement,” the report reads.

“However, there are plans to allow further expansion of coalmining, which runs counter to the need for the global decarbonisation of energy supply.”

Environment Minister Melissa Price is due in Katowice, Poland, today for the COP24 Summit, the biggest climate change conference since the one in Paris in 2015.

A spokeswoman for Ms Price said the government was “committed to the Paris Agreement”.

“Our 2030 target (26-28 per cent below 2005 levels) is strong and responsible,” she said. “We beat our Kyoto target by 128 million tonnes and will beat our 2020 target by 294 million tonnes.’’