Joint Stakeholder Submission to the Universal Periodic Review of Australia

The document asserts that Australia's climate policies and continued reliance on fossil fuels violate human rights both domestically and internationally. It highlights the severe impacts of climate change on Australian health, ecosystems, and Indigenous communities, while criticizing the government's use of 'carryover credits' to artificially meet emissions targets. Furthermore, it denounces the use of anti-protest laws and attacks on the charitable status of NGOs to stifle climate activism.

• Australia's greenhouse gas emissions (excluding land use, land-use change and forestry) increased every year from 2014 to 2018, and the government is not on track to meet its 2020 or 2030 emissions reduction targets under the UNFCCC.
• The Australian government uses 'carryover credits' from the Kyoto Protocol to artificially inflate reported emissions reductions, a practice the document describes as 'legally baseless' and contrary to the Paris Agreement.
• Australia is a major global contributor to fossil fuel emissions, serving as the world's largest exporter of liquefied natural gas (LNG) and one of the two largest exporters of coal.
• Climate change is causing direct human rights violations in Australia, including fatalities and health crises from massive bushfires in 2019-2020, increased heatwave mortality, and the degradation of the Great Barrier Reef.
• Indigenous Australians, particularly those in the Torres Strait Islands, face disproportionate threats to their rights to life, culture, and housing due to rising sea levels and the development of fossil fuel projects on their homelands.
• Federal and state governments in Australia are suppressing climate dissent through anti-protest legislation in Queensland, Tasmania, and Western Australia, and by threatening the tax-deductible gift recipient (DGR) status of advocacy organisations.

APA

Earthjustice (2020). Joint Stakeholder Submission to the Universal Periodic Review of Australia. https://earthjustice.org/sites/default/files/files/joint_submission_edo_eja_ej_to_australias_upr_8_jul_2020_002.pdf

Chicago

Earthjustice. Joint Stakeholder Submission to the Universal Periodic Review of Australia. 2020. https://earthjustice.org/sites/default/files/files/joint_submission_edo_eja_ej_to_australias_upr_8_jul_2020_002.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |author=Earthjustice |title=Joint Stakeholder Submission to the Universal Periodic Review of Australia |date=8 July 2020 |url=https://earthjustice.org/sites/default/files/files/joint_submission_edo_eja_ej_to_australias_upr_8_jul_2020_002.pdf |access-date=23 October 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{earthjustice2020joint, author = {{Earthjustice}}, title = {{Joint Stakeholder Submission to the Universal Periodic Review of Australia}}, institution = {Earthjustice}, year = {2020}, month = jul, url = {https://earthjustice.org/sites/default/files/files/joint_submission_edo_eja_ej_to_australias_upr_8_jul_2020_002.pdf}, urldate = {2026-10-23}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }