Climate Change Minister, Senator Wong, and the Chair of the Joint Standing Committee on Treaties (JSCOT), Kelvin Thomson, both fudged important numbers on climate change targets today, the Australian Greens said.

While the JSCOT report has some strong recommendations on full carbon accounting and renewable energy policy, it is undermined by a deliberately misleading statement on emissions reduction targets. The target of 80% reductions by 2050 is presented as equivalent to President Obama's target and a big increase on the existing 60% target, but buried in the detail is an admission that the reduction would be on existing emissions levels, not the globally accepted 1990 baseline.

"If Australia is seeking to build trust in the international arena, the Government will have to do a lot better than this deliberate deception," said Australian Greens Deputy Leader, Senator Christine Milne.

"Fudging numbers by shifting baselines is an old trick which no more pass muster at the Copenhagen Conference than special pleadings based on Australia's population growth."

During Senate Question Time today, Minister Wong refused to answer simple questions from Senator Milne on the criteria Australian negotiators will use to determine what 2020 emissions target we will accept.

"Since Minister Wong will not reveal any criteria for Australia moving to a 15% 2020 target, we can only conclude that it is not a serious offer but rather a half-baked sop to environmentalists that will never be adopted.

"The only certainty we have under the Government's planned emissions trading scheme is that Australia's future greenhouse emissions, even the 5% target itself, will be determined by largely unfettered ministerial discretion.

"Given this Minister's antagonism towards environmentalists and scepticism of renewable energy, this does not fill me with confidence."