Environment Victoria today strongly welcomed the announcement of a target to reduce Victoria’s greenhouse pollution by 20% by 2020 (on 2000 levels).
The target is expected to be the foundation of the State Government’s Climate Change White Paper to be released this afternoon.
Environment Victoria’s CEO Ms Kelly O’Shanassy said:
“Victoria’s new target is a strong leadership move that is head and shoulders above any other state or national emissions reduction target in Australia. It sets a new standard for climate action in Australia, and is in stark contrast to the weak targets and lack of policy from both the Federal ALP and Coalition“.
“We are very pleased that the target is unconditional meaning that the Victorian government is committed to meeting the target with or without a price on carbon pollution. This provides certainty to Victorian communities and businesses to be investing now in pollution reduction rather than waiting for clear direction nationally”.
“While the science tells us we’ll need to go further than a 20 percent reduction in emissions, the Premier is building a bridge between what we are currently doing about climate change in Australia and what we need to be doing.”
“To achieve emissions reductions of 20 percent by 2020, the state will need to deliver emissions reductions of 30 million tonnes over the next decade. We believe that this quantity of emissions reductions can only be achieved by replacing polluting power stations like Hazelwood with clean energy. Replacing Hazelwood could reduce the state’s emissions by 14 million tonnes as soon as the end of 2012.”
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