China Emits Australia’s Annual Carbon Output Every 12 Days, New Research Finds

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Australia’s efforts to reduce emissions—often at great cost to the economy and workers—are being totally negated by China, which emits as much carbon in 12 days as Australia does in an entire year, new research by the Institute of Public Affairs has found.

“Even in the highly unlikely event that Australia would ever reach net zero carbon emissions, this would be cancelled out every fortnight by China,” said Cian Hussey, a research fellow at the Institute, who says continuing to pursue a goal of Net Zero amounts to “an act of devastating economic self-harm.”

While Australia’s carbon emissions per capita have decreased by 24.3 percent since 2004, China’s have increased by 109 percent.

The Albanese government has set a target of slashing carbon dioxide emissions by 62 to 70 percent from 2005 levels by 2035, which depends on more than doubling Australia’s renewable energy generation in the next five years, to reach 82 percent of total energy generation by 2030.

But for every tonne of emissions Australia has cut, China has increased its output by almost 36,000 tonnes.

The IPA also cites a range of other measures that, it says, “prove that Australia’s net zero policy is reckless and utterly futile.”

For instance, China is responsible for 73 percent of the increase in global carbon emissions since 2004, while Australia’s declined over this period, from 1.3 percent of the world’s total to 1.1 percent.

For each coal-fired power station currently operating in Australia, China operates 66, up from 57 in 2021. It is currently building another 177, with a further 226 in the pre-construction phase, while Australia has none.

“Maintaining net zero requires turning a blind eye to the significant economic, social, and humanitarian costs it is causing,” Hussey says. “As the Productivity Commission recently acknowledged, Australia is pursuing this policy even though our emissions do not have any impact on the global climate.”

The huge disparity between the performance of the two countries “further reveals the folly and self-destructive nature of Australia’s net zero policies, which impose massive costs without any meaningful environmental benefit,” the IPA says, calling the government’s approach “economically and socially destructive.”

“We are seeing the de-industrialisation of Australia happening in real time, and the outsourcing of critical manufacturing to hostile foreign powers such as China.”

Previous IPA research found that 79 percent of people want affordability and reliability to be the focus of the government’s energy policy, while only 21 percent backed the aim of meeting net zero targets.

The polling also showed that 74 percent of Australians are not willing to spend more than $50 a year to meet those targets.

“That just one in five Australians believe [it] should be the priority ... demonstrates the total lack of mainstream support,” Hussey said.

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