Australia says carbon emissions keep growing

Australia's carbon emissions would continue to grow due to a heavy reliance on coal for electricity, a government report said, although the country would meet its Kyoto emissions targets by 2012.

Climate Change Minister Penny Wong said emissions would grow by 108 per cent of 1990 levels from this year to 2012, meeting commitments under the Kyoto Protocol which sets binding Greenhouse gas targets for developed nations.

Ms Wong said the figures were good for Australia, and showed a cut in expected emissions, although emissions would continue to grow to 120 per cent of 1990 levels by the year 2020.

"We should not be celebrating an increase in Australian greenhouse pollution," said climate lobbyist John Connor, from the Australian Climate Institute.

The driest inhabited continent is also the world's largest coal exporter with an economy reliant on fossil fuel for transport and energy, with about 80 per cent of electricity coming from coal-fired power stations.

Australia is responsible for about 1.2 per cent of global emissions, but remains one of the highest polluters per capita. The former conservative government negotiated a generous deal under the Kyoto Protocol, allowing for a 108 per cent increase in emissions by 2012, but then refused to ratify the pact, saying the targets would unfairly hurt the economy.

But Prime Minister Kevin Rudd ratified the Kyoto Protocol on climate change last December in his first act after being sworn in to power, leaving the US isolated as the only developed nation not to sign up to the pact.

The emissions report found government decisions to stop land-clearing and deforestation were the main reasons Australia would reach its Kyoto targets, with most other sectors set to record large increases in carbon pollution.

Emissions from stationary energy, including electricity generation, would increase by 56 per cent on the 1990 levels by 2012, and would be 64 per cent higher by 2020.

Emissions from transport were projected to increase 42 per cent on 1990 levels by 2012, and be 67 per cent higher by 2020, while industrial process emissions would rise 49 per cent by 2012 and 95 per cent by 2020.

Greenhouse emissions from land use and forestry would fall 68 per cent from 1990 levels by 2012 and remain stable from 2010 to 2020, the report predicted.