<
https://reneweconomy.com.au/state-gets-shameful-new-title-as-greenhouse-gas-emissions-jump-fossil-expansion-looms/>
"Official figures showing greenhouse gas emissions in WA increasing to near
record levels confirm the state as Australia’s climate change capital, a Greens
MP says.
WA emitted 89.37 million tonnes of carbon dioxide in 2022/23, the latest
available data shows, an annual increase of nearly four per cent on the
previous year.
The figures are in the
National Inventory Report 2023, recently submitted to
the UN climate change secretariat under reporting requirements of the Paris
Agreement.
The data, which spans 1989-2023, shows WA’s highest emissions were 89.64Mt in
2009/10.
Greens WA leader Brad Pettitt said it “reinforces what we already knew –
Western Australia is the climate change capital of Australia”.
“WA’s emissions have continued to rise under Labor in the critical decade for
climate action, peaking again in 2023, almost 17 per cent above 2005 levels,”
he said.
It was even more concerning that WA’s emissions were set to continue rising to
2030 “and maybe even beyond because the Cook Labor government has no serious
plan to decarbonise our economy”.
“The Cook Labor government have also dumped their commitment to legislate a
pathway to net zero by 2050 – the absolute bare minimum – and continue to use
Woodside talking points about WA gas helping to decarbonise Asia – talking
points that have been proven to be false and misleading,” Dr Pettitt said.
Conservation Council of WA executive director Matt Roberts said it was
“unfathomable” that Premier Roger Cook had indicated that he expected emissions
to go up.
He said that “folks are really fired up to try and express themselves in a way
that they feel heard,” about growing concerns over emissions.
He was speaking after protests across the country on Wednesday targeting
government MPs, as green groups pressure federal environment minister Murray
Watt to consult the public and release the conditions of his approval to extend
Woodside’s North West Shelf gas project.
The approval, announced on May 28, would allow Woodside to extend the project’s
life from 2030 to 2070, subject to conditions about the impact of air emission
levels from the expanded onshore gas plant at Karratha in WA’s northwest.
Those conditions remain secret and a coalition of 80 groups and prominent
individuals have written to Mr Watt demanding he publicly release them, and use
his powers under the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act
to allow the public to be consulted."
Cheers,
*** Xanni ***
--
mailto:xanni@xanadu.net Andrew Pam
http://xanadu.com.au/ Chief Scientist, Xanadu
https://glasswings.com.au/ Partner, Glass Wings
https://sericyb.com.au/ Manager, Serious Cybernetics
