Australia should target a 10 per cent cut in carbon emissions by 2020, the country’s leading adviser on climate change said on Friday, calling the minimum 25 per cent level agreed at a global climate change conference last December in Bali “not immediately feasible”.

Australia’s carbon dioxide emissions are equal to those of the US on a per capita basis and among the highest in the world, according to the US Energy Information Administration. Australia, which ranks 15th in overall carbon emissions, was a belated signatory to the Kyoto protocol on limiting carbon emissions, acceding last December as Kevin Rudd’s first act as prime minister.