According to The Climate Institute policy paper, Australia needs a long term carbon budget approach in order to realise the risks, responsibilities and realities in doing its fair share for climate change goals set in the national interest.

“Australia’s carbon laws and international negotiations are based on avoiding more than two degrees global warming above pre-industrial levels. To have good chance at this, no more than 1,500 billion tonnes of carbon pollution can be released to 2050,” said Erwin Jackson, Deputy CEO of The Climate Institute.

The policy paper comes as the Climate Change Authority is meant to release its thoughts on Australia’s carbon emission target. They are expected to give their draft recommendation in October this year and its final recommendations in February of 2014. The Climate Institute notes that current emission targets are not a fair contribution to avoiding dangerous climate change. They also say that it can be quite complex to try and calculate what Australia’s ‘fair share’ would be however, we already have a high level of carbon pollution – our pollution has doubled that of the global average in recent years – so it is therefore necessary to calculate if we are to avoid climate change and achieve goals set nationally as well as internationally.

The Climate Institute’s calculations shows that if we all consumed the same, or no more than, the average person in other advanced economies, our budget would last 40 years as opposed to the 15 years it will last if we continue to consume at the high levels we are currently consuming.

One of our major contributors to climate change is electricity. Already, renewables are said to be cheaper than new coal or gas fired power stations. However, many say that this needs to be reflected in the carbon price, making renewables the only viable option.

Initial thoughts from the Climate Change Authority should be released shortly.