Amongst the G20 countries, Australia’s emission reduction target – a reduction of 26-28% on a 2005 baseline – is unusually weak, nowhere near what is required for us to play our fair share in meeting a 2°C Paris target.
The impacts that we are experiencing now at a ~1°C rise in average temperature are the forerunners of rapidly escalating risks as the temperature rises towards 2°C and beyond. An overview of these risks – worsening extreme weather, damage to natural ecosystems, disproportionate impacts on the poor and vulnerable – is given by the ‘burning embers diagram’ of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). The series reveals a striking trend – as the science of climate impacts advances, severe impacts are now expected at more modest increases in temperature
