Total life-cycle carbon emissions - which gauge the emissions from a product's creation, use and disposal - show Australia's global footprint far exceeds its economic size and population due to high exports of coal and gas.
A Climate Analytics report, released on Monday, found the nation exported the equivalent of 1.15 billion tonnes of carbon-dioxide emissions.
An additional 46 million tonnes of carbon were emitted domestically in the process of extracting, processing and distributing fossil fuels for export, taking the total to 1.2 billion tonnes, according to the researchers.
Australia's gas exports are tipped to soar in the near future. (Darren England/AAP PHOTOS)
The nation also has one of the world's highest per-capita levels of direct emissions for all greenhouse gases, about double that of China.
The findings come despite state and federal government attempts to decarbonise key domestic sectors, such as electricity generation.
The report was commissioned by UNSW's Australian Human Rights Institute through its Australian Climate Accountability Project.
It found Australia was the third-largest fossil fuel exporter in 2021, behind Russia and the US, but the nation jumped to second when it came to the emissions produced from its exports.
"The government is intent on a deliberate strategy that will see its gas exports soar, exporting billions of tonnes of emissions, inconsistent with achieving net zero, and completely inconsistent with the science," lead author Hannah Grant said.
"If you look at (the data) in terms of exported emissions, Australia comes second (behind Russia) because of the size of its coal exports."
NEW RESEARCH | The Institute's latest report examines Australia's vast coal and gas exports and the climate consequences for people in Australia. Read it now: — UNSW Australian Human Rights Institute (@HumanRightsUNSW) https://t.co/lzEM3VgO9N pic.twitter.com/vaIkGF77HNAugust 11, 2024
Australian Climate Accountability Project lead Gillian Moon said it was concerning the federal government had no plan for limiting or reducing exports, which she said was "escalating dangerous climate change for its own population".
"Our own exports are helping make Australia's climate more dangerous and costly to live in, selling our children and their futures short," she said.
In late 2023, governments including that of Australia agreed to a global transition away from fossil fuels at the COP28 climate conference, noting this should be done in a "a just, orderly and equitable manner" to achieve net zero emissions by 2050.
Climate Change Minister Chris Bowen's office has been contacted for comment.
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