Comparing the Copenhagen climate targets: Frank Jotzo

Dr Frank Jotzo gives this public lecture at The Australian National University on 23 March 2010.

Following the Copenhagen climate Accord, countries representing over 80 per cent of global emissions have announced their (legally not binding) targets for cutting greenhouse gas emissions. How ambitious are these pledges, and how do they stack up in comparison? Dr Jotzo presents new analysis that puts the targets on a common footing, and compares them across different dimensions.

Most countries are on track for moderate rather than strong climate action. But a number of large developing countries, including China, have made ambitious pledges. Looking at emissions intensity of the economy, business-as-usual trajectories, and per-capita emissions, Copenhagen targets by some developing countries are on par with US and EU commitments. An implication for Australia is that the governments formal conditions for a 15% reduction target are fulfilled. Beyond that, Australia could make substantial contributions of a non-binding nature on land-based carbon at home and in Indonesia. Australia will also need to provide significant climate finance to developing countries.

Frank Jotzo is an environmental economist specialising in climate change economics and policy, an area he has done research on since 1998. He also works on broader issues of economic development and reform. He is a senior lecturer with the Resource Management in Asia-Pacific Program at the Crawford School, and a deputy director of the ANU Climate Change Institute. He has worked for the Garnaut Climate Change Review, as advisor to the Indonesian Ministry of Finance, and as consultant to the World Bank.

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