Sydney – Australian Prime Minister, Tony Abbott, on Monday delayed announcing a major carbon emissions reduction target, and slammed other nations for making “airy-fairy” promises they did not keep.
The government was expected to announce Australia’s post-2020 carbon emission targets in mid July, but Abbott said it would not be released until August.
His government has cut renewable energy production by 2020 from 41,000 gigawatt hours, to 33,000 gigawatt hours, arguing that it was necessary to maintain the targeted proportion of renewable energy on the grid.
Australia has been criticised for reining in renewable energy, but Abbott said the difference with the rest of the world was that “when we make commitments to reduce emissions, we keep them.’’
“Other countries make these airy-fairy promises that never come to anything,’’ Abbott said, complaining that Australia did not get the credit it deserved.[pro_ad_display_adzone id=”70560″]
Australia is one of the world’s largest carbon emitters per capita and the 13th largest emitter in the world, despite a population of just 23 million.
It became the first country in the world to axe a price on carbon when Abbott was elected, encouraging polluters to cut emissions and be paid
Over the weekend, Abbott ordered the government’s Clean Energy Finance Corporation, not to invest in wind turbine or household solar energy projects, saying they were not “new” renewable technologies.
He added that he would continue to try to abolish the corporation, even though he had been blocked twice in the senate.
Abbott described wind turbines as “visually awful” and wanted to stop any more being built. (dpa/NAN)
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