Ahead of the Paris Climate Summit in December 2015 the Federal Government announed Australia is to adopt an emission reduction target between 26% and 28% on 2005 levels by 2030. This represents a 19% reduction on 2000 levels. Australia's previous target was 5% emission reduction by 2020 from 1990 levels which the current Federal government suggests Australia is on track to meeting.
Meeting the 2030 target will require Australia to reduce its emissions to no more than 533 million tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent. This is 126 MT CO2-e lower than current projections.
According to the Government, emissions intensity and emissions per person will fall further than other developed economies. Australia's emissions per person is projected to decline by 50% and emissions per unit of GDP to decline be 64% between 2005 and 2030.
Australia's target of 26% emission reductions is below Canada's 30%, below the EU's 34%, below New Zealand's 30% and the United States 26% (by 2025), but is higher than China's target of 150% growth, South Korea's projected reduciton of only 4% and Japans' target of 26% (on 2013 levels by 2030).
However it should be noted of all these countries Australia is the highest emitter of carbon emissions per capita, and one argument suggests Australia should be doing more to reduce this figure.
However according to the projections Australia is the only developed economy that plans to reduce by half or greater its emissions per capita by 2030 from 2005 levels.
Australia plans to meet its 2030 target by implementing a suite of Direct Action Policies. Some of these include the Emissions Reduction Fund, now and into the future, Technology Improvements, and initiaitives to be outlined in the National Energy Productivity Plan for Energy Efficiency and for Vehicle Efficiency.
Latest figures from the Department of the Environment calculate as transport contributing 17% to the nations greenhouse gas emissions. However the majority of this 17% is produced for personal transport and not for the transport of freight.
In announcing its target the Federal Government released a series of helpful pdfs explaining its target, measures and future projections which can be accessed below.