Australia is playing its part in the global challenge to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
Committed to the Paris Agreement
Australia is party to the Paris Agreement. The Paris Agreement came into force in 2016. It was a major step forward in international efforts to address climate change. Other international treaties are the:
The Paris Agreement aims to strengthen the global response to the threat of climate change by:
- holding the increase in the global average temperature to well below 2°C above pre-industrial levels
- pursuing efforts to limit temperature increase to 1.5°C.
Nationally Determined Contributions
Under the Paris Agreement, Australia must submit emissions reduction commitments known as Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs).
Australia submitted its first NDC to the UNFCC in 2015. We submitted an updated version of this NDC in 2022. The update commits Australia to reducing its emissions to 43% below 2005 levels by 2030.
See Australia's NDC on the UNFCCC registry.
Australia will submit its second NDC to the UNFCCC in 2025.
Meeting Australia’s obligations
The Department of Climate Change, Energy, the Environment and Water works with the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade to negotiate and meet Australia’s obligations under the Paris Agreement.
Our role includes:
- leading negotiations for Australia on land sector and transparency issues in the UNFCCC and Paris Agreement, including in relation to Australia's greenhouse gas inventories, emission projections and tracking progress to targets
- reporting Australia's emissions, climate change policies, and progress towards its targets to the UNFCCC
- approving participation in Clean Development Mechanism and Joint Implementation projects under the Kyoto Protocol
- administering a number of aid projects providing support for developing countries
- supporting climate action in the Indo-Pacific region
- managing a number of domestic policies that support Australia meeting its targets
- facilitating industry and private sector collaboration as a member of the Leadership Group for Industry Transition and Mission Innovation.
We also participate in a range of multilateral forums and bilateral partnerships to promote Australia’s climate change interests. These partnerships strengthen the global response to climate change.
Australia-Singapore Low Emissions Memorandum of Understanding
Our department is delivering a MoU with Singapore to advance cooperation on low emissions technologies and solutions. This agreement builds on Australia and Singapore’s comprehensive strategic partnership and demonstrates our shared ambition to drive low-emissions solutions to support an effective global climate change response.
The MoU will support the development and uptake of new and emerging low emissions technologies with practical collaboration on:
- hydrogen
- carbon capture utilisation and storage (CCUS)
- renewable energy trade
- measurement, reporting and verification (MRV) of emissions.
Read more
- Read about Australia’s domestic actions for climate change
- Read the 2017 review of the Australian Government’s climate change policies
See also
- Paris Agreement [2016] ATS 24 (entered into force for Australia 10 December 2016).
- United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change done in New York, 9 May 1992, [1994] ATS 2 (entered into force generally and for Australia 21 March 1994).
- Kyoto Protocol to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, done in Kyoto, 11 December 1997, [2008] ATS 2 (entered into force for Australia 11 March 2008).
- Doha Amendment to the Kyoto Protocol, done in Doha, 8 December 2012, [2016] ATNIA 11, [2016] ATNIF 24.