THE AUSTRALIAN CLIMATE CRISIS AND THE GREAT BARRIER REEF WORLD HERITAGE AREA

The report asserts that the Great Barrier Reef's Outstanding Universal Value (OUV) is deteriorating due to climate change, with the IUCN assessing its outlook as "critical" in 2020. It argues that Australia is fueling this crisis by maintaining inadequate emissions targets, expanding fossil fuel exports, and failing to align its Reef 2050 Plan with a well-below 1.5°C warming pathway. The document concludes that site-level mitigation is insufficient and calls for the World Heritage Committee to require Australia to implement national-level decarbonization and legislative commitments to protect the Reef.

• The conservation outlook for the Great Barrier Reef was assessed as "critical" by the IUCN in 2020, indicating it is in worse condition than during the 2014 consideration for an "in-danger" listing.
• Climate change is identified as the most serious threat to the Reef, with coral bleaching events in 2016, 2017, and 2020 causing unprecedented coral mortality.
• Scientific evidence indicates that the Reef's Outstanding Universal Value can only be maintained if global temperature rise is limited to well-below 1.5°C above preindustrial levels.
• Australia is not on track to meet its 2030 Paris Agreement target; government data projects 2030 emissions at 478 Mt CO2e (22% below 2005 levels), which is below the target of 26-28% below 2005 levels.
• Australia's role as one of the world's largest exporters of coal and liquefied natural gas, and its intent to expand these exports, contributes to the climate crisis harming the Reef.
• The Reef 2050 Long-Term Sustainability Plan and its 2020 proposed update are criticized for lacking concrete measures to align Australia's actions with a well-below 1.5°C pathway.
• A coal mine located 10 km from the World Heritage Area boundary was permitted to proceed to the next stage of assessment in February 2021, despite risks to water quality and contributions to climate change.
• The report argues that site-level mitigation is quantitatively negligible and that state parties must implement national-level mitigation to fulfill their obligations under the World Heritage Convention.

APA

Earthjustice (2021). THE AUSTRALIAN CLIMATE CRISIS AND THE GREAT BARRIER REEF WORLD HERITAGE AREA. https://earthjustice.org/sites/default/files/files/australian-climate-crisis-great-barrier-reef_march-2021.pdf

Chicago

Earthjustice. THE AUSTRALIAN CLIMATE CRISIS AND THE GREAT BARRIER REEF WORLD HERITAGE AREA. 2021. https://earthjustice.org/sites/default/files/files/australian-climate-crisis-great-barrier-reef_march-2021.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |author=Earthjustice |title=THE AUSTRALIAN CLIMATE CRISIS AND THE GREAT BARRIER REEF WORLD HERITAGE AREA |date=March 2021 |url=https://earthjustice.org/sites/default/files/files/australian-climate-crisis-great-barrier-reef_march-2021.pdf |access-date=23 October 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{earthjustice2021australian, author = {{Earthjustice}}, title = {{THE AUSTRALIAN CLIMATE CRISIS AND THE GREAT BARRIER REEF WORLD HERITAGE AREA}}, institution = {Earthjustice}, year = {2021}, month = mar, url = {https://earthjustice.org/sites/default/files/files/australian-climate-crisis-great-barrier-reef_march-2021.pdf}, urldate = {2026-10-23}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }