An annual university report said although Australia's environmental scorecard deteriorated in 2023, the nation fared better than many other countries.
While 2023 was the hottest year on record globally, for Australia it was the eighth hottest year because of wet and relatively mild conditions.
The research is carried out each year by the Australia National University, or ANU, and is contained in the Australian Environment 2023 Report.
Researchers use scientific information to give Australia a score out of 10. In 2023, it was 7.5, down from 8.7 the previous year.
The decline was mostly due to reduced rainfall compared to 2022. They stress that the report card is not a reflection of the Canberra government’s policies, but a general assessment of the health of the environment.
Information about the weather data is used alongside satellite data on threatened species, biodiversity and water flows to calculate the annual score.
Australia’s biodiversity took a significant hit last year, according to the study. It states that a record 130 species were added to the Threatened Species List, compared with the average of 29 species added annually.
The university survey details how Australia's population grew “rapidly” last year by 3.5%, its fastest growth in decades.
The study revealed that Australians are the world’s 10th worst greenhouse gas emitters per person, just after Saudi Arabia.
Professor Albert Van Dijk from the Australian National University's Fenner School of Environment told VOA the country's greenhouse gas emissions increased for the first time in five years - mainly because domestic air travel picked up after COVID.
“While our emissions per person are very slowly going down - a lot more slowly than in most, you know, industrialized countries, but they are going down slowly - but our population is growing so fast," he said. "It is growing faster than our emissions are going down. So, you know, we are not achieving the emissions reductions as a country that we need to achieve.”
Overall, the annual ANU report states that Australia is the world’s 15th largest emitter of greenhouse gases, contributing 1% of global emissions.
Van Dijk believes as a wealthy nation, Australia should be doing more to combat the impact of climate change.
“If you look at the uptake of electric vehicles, if you look at the use of renewables, we are still a laggard internationally," he said. "We have got the 10th highest emissions per person globally; three times the global average, two times the average Chinese person."
He said countries like the United Kingdom are doing more to reduce the emission per person.
"Australia needs to really step up its game. I think we should be very worried about the state of the environment globally, and especially about climate change."
Australia’s government has for the first time legislated a target to cut carbon emissions by 43% from 2005 levels by 2030 and to achieve net zero emissions by 2050.
