*Australian CO2 emissions outpacing world*

By Peter Williams and Kate Corbett

May 22, 2007 05:37pm
Article from: AAP

AUSTRALIAN carbon dioxide emissions have grown at twice the rate of the
rest of the world's in the past quarter of a century, according to new
research.

The report also found Australia's emissions per capita were 4.5 times
the global average in 2004, just below the US.

But Australia's emissions were increasing at twice the rate of those of
the US, said research team leader Dr Mike Raupach of the CSIRO.

The international team of scientists also reported that global increases
in carbon emissions from fossil fuels this decade had tripled since the
1990s.

The findings fit the worst-case scenario laid out by the
intergovernmental panel monitoring global warming.

While Australia contributed only 1.43 per cent of the world's emissions,
it was one of the biggest polluters per capita and getting worse, the
report said.

Dr Rapauch said Australia and the US now emitted more than five tonnes
of carbon per person each year, compared with one tonne per person in China.

"Our own improvements in the energy efficiency of the economy and the
energy efficiency and carbon efficiency of the economy have not been as
rapid as improvements in other developed countries," Dr Rapauch said on
ABC radio.

"So it's fair to say that we do have some work to do."

The report said Australia exceeded the world in carbon intensity - the
amount of carbon burned as fossil fuel per unit of energy or wealth created.

Environment Minister Malcolm Turnbull said the report had focused on a
group of countries rather than Australia individually.

Mr Turnbull said emissions figures of the Australian Greenhouse Office
were more accurate.

"They show that our carbon intensity is declining, but certainly
emissions from the electricity sector are growing with economic growth,"
he said.

"Overall, however, we are on track to meet our Kyoto targets."

Labor said the Federal Government must explain why Australia was one of
the fastest growing greenhouse polluters.

"These are stark figures and no amount of pre-election `greenwashing'
can hide the Howard Government's disgraceful record on climate change,"
environment spokesman Peter Garrett said.

The Australian Greens called on the Government to require the 250
largest energy users to implement energy efficiency measures.

"There is enormous opportunity for the business community to increase
productivity, reduce costs and reduce harmful emissions by using energy
more productively," Greens leader Bob Brown said.

The research was being published by the US Proceedings of the National
Academy of Sciences today.

It says global emissions have grown at a rate of 3 per cent a year since
2000, compared with 1.1 per cent in the 1990s.

Nearly eight billion tonnes of carbon were emitted globally in 2005,
compared with six billion tonnes in 1995.

Dr Rapauch said global efforts to reduce emissions had had little impact
on their growth.

"Recent emissions seem to be near the high end of the fossil fuel use
scenarios used by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC),"
he said.

"Our results add to previous findings that carbon dioxide
concentrations, global temperatures and sea level rise are all near the
high end of IPCC projections."

Dr Rapauch blamed the results on a reversal in the carbon intensity of
the economy.

"It means that climate change is occurring faster than has been
predicted by most of the studies done in the 90s and into the early 2000s."