WHY ARE AUSSIE EMISSIONS SO HIGH?

In a word, coal. Australia relies on it to generate about 80 percent of its electricity. Greenhouse gases are emitted both in coal mining and when the fossil fuel is burnt.

Cutting coal emissions is not easy -- Australia is also the world's largest coal exporter, sending more than A$26 billion of coal overseas in 2007/8, mostly to Asian neighbours.

Despite having 0.32 per cent of the global population, it is responsible for about 1.5 percent of all carbon emissions. Each Australian's emissions were 4.5 times the global average in 2004 -- pushed up by coal and other fossil fuels