The Albanese Government has rejected calls from an official climate think tank to impose a national ban on new petrol car sales by 2040, as well as gas connections to new homes. Those were 2 recommendations from the Climate Change Authority (CCA), whose latest report found Australia isn’t on track to meet its target to reduce emissions by 43% on 2005 levels by 2030. It blamed sluggish moves on reducing emissions, with new data showing a rise of 0.8% in the 2022-23 financial year, led by the transport and agricultural sectors. Those pesky cow burps… Despite that, Climate Change Minister Chris Bowen said the country is “within striking distance” of our target of 43% emissions reductions by 2030. That’s according to the government’s own modelling, but we’ll find out how Bowen’s chipper outlook will be received by other nations when he heads to Qatar for the COP28 summit over the weekend…