Greenhouse Gas Mitigation in Australia

The report finds that Australia's current climate policy framework, including the Clean Energy Future package and the Large-Scale Renewable Energy Target, enables the country to meet its international commitment to reduce emissions by 5-25 percent from 2000 levels by 2020. However, it identifies significant risks, including policy uncertainty stemming from political disagreement over the carbon-pricing mechanism and an over-reliance on purchasing international permits rather than achieving domestic reductions.

• Australia's existing climate policy framework is sufficient to meet its international commitments to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 5-25 percent from 2000 levels by 2020, provided the policies are fully implemented.
• Policy uncertainty, particularly regarding the future of the Large-Scale Renewable Energy Target (LRET) and the carbon-pricing mechanism, threatens investment in low-emission technologies. The report notes that a repeal of the carbon-pricing mechanism by the Coalition government would worsen this uncertainty unless a credible alternative signal is established, potentially increasing the cost of the low-carbon transition.
• There is a risk that Australia will rely too heavily on international markets for emission permits due to low prices in the Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) and the EU ETS. This reliance could hinder domestic emission reductions and increase the economy's exposure to international price volatility.
• The federal government's Clean Energy Future package consists of a three-year fixed carbon price transitioning to a cap-and-trade scheme linked to the EU emissions trading scheme and Kyoto mechanisms. Under this scheme, the federal government sets annual caps based on Climate Change Authority (CCA) recommendations, and entities can use international permits for up to 50 percent of their liabilities.
• Other significant federal initiatives include the Large-Scale Renewable Energy Target (LRET) aiming for 41,000 GWh of renewable generation by 2020, the $A10 billion Clean Energy Finance Corporation (CEFC), and the Carbon Farming Initiative (CFI). State-level policies include land clearing laws, energy efficiency obligations, and solar PV feed-in tariffs.

APA

World Resources Institute (n.d.). Greenhouse Gas Mitigation in Australia. https://www.wri.org/research/greenhouse-gas-mitigation-australia

Chicago

World Resources Institute. Greenhouse Gas Mitigation in Australia. n.d. https://www.wri.org/research/greenhouse-gas-mitigation-australia.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |author=World Resources Institute |title=Greenhouse Gas Mitigation in Australia |url=https://www.wri.org/research/greenhouse-gas-mitigation-australia |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{worldresourcesinstitutendgreenhouse, author = {{World Resources Institute}}, title = {{Greenhouse Gas Mitigation in Australia}}, institution = {World Resources Institute}, url = {https://www.wri.org/research/greenhouse-gas-mitigation-australia}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }