Why are we doing this research?
There is a tendency to think of Australia as a ‘little guy’ in global carbon emissions, but Australia is also a massive global producer of fossil fuels, particularly for export. It ranks as the world’s second-largest coal exporter and second-largest gas exporter.
The vast scale of Australia’s fossil fuel exports gives it an outsized contribution to global warming; a contribution which damages our climate and has adverse effects on people in Australia. When 'lifecycle emissions' are calculated by countries’ total production of fossil fuels, Australia ranks as the world’s fifth-largest emitter. The emissions from these exports dwarf Australia’s domestic emissions.
We know that these emissions are causing harm to communities in Australia but, right now, there is policy silence on the issue here. No government in Australia has any policy or plan to cap or otherwise limit these fossil fuel exports, now or in the future. This leaves people in Australia with no say on whether this industry should continue, nor on the worsening of Australia’s climate (and harms to communities) to which the exports are contributing.
The purpose of this research project by the Australian Human Rights Institute is to change that.
How are we making change?
The Institute is undertaking this research project, in collaboration with climate experts Climate Analytics, to build knowledge about Australia’s full contribution to global warming, to correct misperceptions in Australia about our significance when it comes to global carbon emissions, and to advocate for prevention of further climate-related harms to people and communities in Australia, which the continued exports are driving.
New research by Climate Analytics has revealed that total lifecycle emissions from the fossil fuels which Australia exports – including emissions from extracting, processing, transporting and using them overseas – place Australia second largest in the world and ahead of fossil fuel export giants the United States, Indonesia and Saudi Arabia.
Australia is one of the countries particularly exposed to dangerous physical impacts from climate change. Given the extreme weather hazards climate change brings, all people in Australia are now exposed to escalating climate risks and harms – especially from extreme heat.
People and communities in Australia deserve to know the extent to which these fossil fuel exports are ‘doubling back’ on them in the form of more dangerous and destructive extreme weather. They deserve honesty and an open conversation about the issues, and a say in putting limits on this climate-destructive export industry. After all, they are the ones facing a more dangerous and costly climate to live in, with escalating threats to their homes, jobs, children, health, food, businesses, recreation, culture, property, safety and lives.
What reforms are we seeking?
The Institute is calling on the Australian Government to develop and implement a concrete plan, with targets, for an ambitious but orderly, cooperative and just phase-out of its fossil fuel exports. We are not calling for a sudden and disruptive stop.
The government could start by:
- halting all new fossil fuel project approvals and using its current revising of Commonwealth environmental protection laws to introduce climate impacts as a core, mandatory consideration in future applications for approvals;
- in its pending amendments to climate-related disclosure by corporations, demand accurate disclosure by fossil fuel corporations of their full contributions to climate change and impacts on communities in Australia; and,
- while Australia is bidding with the Pacific to host COP31 in 2026, utilise this excellent opportunity to start talks with its major fossil fuel buyer countries.
There are powerful benefits to Australia from taking this orderly phase-out course. It would clear the way for building up Australia’s new renewables-based export industries, removing the current ‘drag’ from competing with its own coal and gas exports. It would reduce the health and other social and economic burdens which come with worsening climate change. And stopping the very large fossil fuel subsidies Australia hands out would be good for its national budget.
A phase-out would also reduce Australia’s domestic emissions substantially. The total emissions generated in Australia just to produce the fossil fuels for export are equivalent to half the emissions from generating electricity here for domestic use.
From both a climate science and an ethics perspective, an Australian phase-out is the right thing to do. It would very likely slow the pace of global warming and help the world to stay within the Paris Agreement’s temperature goal. Australia's projected fossil fuel exports from 2024 to 2035 alone would consume around 7.5% of the remaining ‘global carbon budget’ from 2024 for keeping to 1.5°C warming. This would rise to 9.1% based on Australia's total carbon footprint. With the government's projections of increasing fossil fuel exports, that percentage would continue to increase beyond 2035 (Climate Analytics, ‘Australia’s Fossil Fuel Carbon Footprint’, 2024).
How are we making an impact?
Our August 2024 report, Escalation, sets out the problem and much of what we know; it begins the critical process of exploring the escalating climate-driven risks for people and communities in Australia; and it lays out a pathway for reform. The report is intended as an information source and resource for organisations and individuals wanting the facts and information about ways forward. It is intended to accompany the contemporaneous report of Climate Analytics, Australia’s Global Fossil Fuel Carbon Footprint.
In late 2024, the Institute will be releasing a second report, detailing the climate/human rights-related obligations and responsibilities of the major fossil fuel exporting corporations operating in Australia and of Australian governments in relation to those operations. It will be accompanied by a human rights-oriented study of the escalating climate risks and harms for the bulk of Australia’s population which live on the eastern seaboard.
A national workshop, to be held in October 2024 in Sydney, will lead strategically into an Australia-wide process pressing for an ambitious, orderly and just phase-out of the fossil fuel exports. The workshop’s focus will rest particularly on the responsibilities of the major fossil fuel exporting corporations in relation to climate-driven impacts on people and communities in Australia, and their human rights.
How is this project funded?
The Australian Climate Accountability Project is supported by UNSW Law & Justice and the Institute for Climate Risk & Response. It receives funding from the Lord Mayor’s Charitable Foundation through the Eldon & Anne Foote Trust and has the generous pro bono support of Hall and Wilcox.
The Australian Climate Accountability Project is a member of the Climate Action Network Australia (CANA).
Who we are
- Gillian Moon - Australian Climate Accountability Project Coordinator
- Wes Morgan - Research Associate
Reports and papers
- Escalation: The destructive force of Australia’s fossil fuel exports on our climate, 12 August 2024.
- Submission to the Senate Standing Committee on the Environment and Communications Inquiry into Climate Change Amendment (Duty of Care and Intergenerational Climate Equity) Bill 2023. 22 November 2023.
- ‘Climate change and women’s human rights’. DFAT Consultation Meeting presentation ahead of 53rd Session of the UN Human Rights Council, 8 June 2023.
- Too much hot air? Human rights and Australia’s gas and coal exports. Edited version of paper delivered at online symposium ‘Realising the Right to A Healthy Environment in Australia’, hosted by University of Canberra, La Trobe, and UTS Sydney, Thursday 6 October 2022.