Western Australia a Carbon Emissions Catastrophe

On the eve of Australia’s Prime Minister attending the Rio+20 United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development, research recently released by the Greens WA spokesperson on Climate Change, Robin Chapple MLC, shows that WA is tracking ‘off the scale’ for carbon emissions increases.

The findings of this research are disturbing. In the coming decade, when we should be constraining the growth of carbon emissions and making clear plans to reduce our future emissions, WA is instead set to increase its greenhouse gas emissions vastly and rapidly.

Western Australia's emissions in 1990, the benchmark year for Kyoto Agreements, were 52.0 million tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent (CO2e), and by 2009 this had grown to 69.9 million tonnes.

This new research shows that emissions are now in the region of 85 million tonnes of CO2e per annum. The most worrying finding of this research is that pending industrial development is set to emit a further 83 to 128 million tonnes per annum.

These new projects, if approved and operating at full scale, could see our emissions more than double during the coming decade, and more than triple that of our reporting base year of 1990.

“As the primary regulator of industry in our state, our State Government should play a key role in facilitating the transition from a carbon intensive economy to a low carbon, clean economy,” said Robin Chapple today.

“However the current State Government has no policy on how we will support the Commonwealth in meeting Kyoto and National targets, and it sets no articulated targets of its own.

I consider industrial development left unmeasured and unmonitored, with no clear commitment to disclose emissions profiles, or manage and reduce emissions and energy use, tantamount to negligence on the part of the State and call on this Government to consider future generations before it considers mining profits,” stated Mr Chapple.

For more information or to access the full report please go to: http://www.robinchapple.com/sites/default/files/GHG%20Estimates%20WA%202012%20Final.pdf, and for a copy of the WA Emissions Estimates Inventory go to: http://www.robinchapple.com/sites/default/files/Carbon%20Emissions%20Inventory%20Major%20Resource%20Projects%20%E2%80%93%20AGEIS%202012%20data.pdf

Also available is a google map illustrating emitting industries and their 'per annum' emissions at: http://ow.ly/awKt0.  

Robin Chapple MLC will be available on the steps of Parliament House for interview / statement with copies of the report at 9.30am, Thursday 21st June, 2012.

For more information please contact Robin Chapple on 0409 379 263 or 9486 8255

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