Australia is "no longer on track" to meet its 2020 emissions target and the Abbott government's decision to axe the carbon tax is to blame, the United Nations has found.
The 2014 Emissions Gap Report, prepared by the UN Environment Programme, names Australia among four international pariah states that will require further action to meet their governments' emissions pledges.
Instead of hitting a target of 555 million tonnes of CO2 in 2020, Australia was on track to produce between 685 and 710 million tonnes, the report said.
"Four parties – Australia, Canada, Mexico, and the US – are likely to require further action and/or purchased offsets in order to meet their pledges, according to government and independent estimates," the report said.
"Australia had been on track to meet its pledge in part through its carbon pricing mechanism, but this mechanism was abolished on 1 July 2014."
In a section of the report comparing countries' pledges, trajectories and recent policy developments, the authors state in relation to Australia: "New government replaced carbon-pricing mechanism with Emission Reduction Fund. This results in an increase in projected emissions for 2020."
Labor environment spokesman Mark Butler said the report showed up the Prime Minister's claim at the G20 summit in Brisbane that Australia that would "deliver" on its emissions targets.
"World leaders, including some of Australia's largest trading partners, have pledged to increase their emissions reduction targets," he said.
"Tony Abbott would rather pay polluters to pollute and keep his head in the sand."
Domestic think tanks on both sides of the political spectrum, including the left-leaning Australia Institute and free-market Institute of Public Affairs, have previously criticised the Direct Action policy as ineffective.
But Environment Minister Greg Hunt has maintained that the policy will meet Australia's target of reducing emissions by 5 per cent on 2000 levels by 2020.
On the positive side, the UNEP report found Australia had made an effort to increase energy inefficiency by reducing transmission and distribution losses across power networks. The measures also helped to reduce "fuel poverty", where energy services are too expensive to maintain healthy living conditions, the report said.
The report found Mexico and the US had taken steps that would bring both countries nearer to meeting their emissions pledges, but that they still had more to do. South Korea may also require further action but this could not be verified, the report's authors said.
