It has been reported in The Age that the South African Environmental Affairs Minister Marthinus Van Schalkwyk has singled out Australia as one of four industrialised countries that needs to put its emissions reductions on the table. He has stated that:
Kyoto-ratifying developed countries should adopt an emission reduction range of at least 25 percent 40 percent below 1990 levels by 2020. This will give credibility and enable us to finalise ambitious mid-term targets for all developed countries within this range by the end of 2009, in time to avoid a gap between the first and second commitment periods of the Kyoto Protocol and thus secure the carbon market. Without such an unambiguous commitment it will be very difficult to engage developing countries in a credible way to make their deviation below baseline “substantial”.
* Japan, Russia, Australia and Canada have avoided putting their numbers on the table for too long. They now need to come forward with credible and ambitious mid-term targets within the 25 percent to 40 percent range for 2020
* From the United States (US) we expect comparability of commitments and compliance. We appreciate President-elect Obama’s commitment to restore America’s leadership in international global warming negotiations. In 2009, we will be looking to the US to come forward with ambitious commitments that will keep the world in the IPCC’s most ambitious stabilisation scenario for 2020.
Tim Hollo has also commented on this at Rooted.
