The call comes as the G20 was on the verge of committing to raising economic output.

However, in the context of new emissions reduction commitments for the post-Kyoto period, Deloitte said it believed the relationship between emissions and economic activity needed to be better understood.

The report called for “consistent policy approaches” between economic growth and carbon emissions reduction targets is nothing new, with Deloitte director Dr Ric Simes saying that “simple, easy to understand metrics such as carbon dioxide equivalent per capita do not fully capture the drivers of underlying emissions within an economy”

Deloitte director Kumar Padisetti said simplistic measures commonly used to scale countries’ emissions for comparisons like population (carbon dioxide equivalent per capita) had “a very limited connection to what really drives emissions in each economy” – which is productive activity.

This, he says, is because population growth is not always related to economic growth. ‘Carbon dioxide equivalent per GDP’ provides comparisons which are more connected to economic activity.

“We have looked at how we can identify the relationship between the structure of economies and emissions, and have conducted analysis that accounts for GDP, population, urbanisation, weather and choice of energy fuel,” he said.

“Ideally, countries should seek to reduce emissions while maintaining economic growth, by reducing the emissions intensity of their economies. But without the collective action and agreement of the G20 countries, and in particular the top five emitters, it will be difficult to achieve the necessary reductions in global emissions to avoid dangerous climate change.

“Benchmarking across countries in a consistent and meaningful way is important if we are to develop the right, targeted national and global policy responses to reduce emissions.”

The report reveals that Australia’s carbon emission productivity has been improving in both absolute terms and relative to the average of the G20 in recent years.

From 2009 to 2010 Australia’s emissions per unit of GDP fell 4.4% and a further 3.1% from 2010 to 2011.

It also revealed that Australia’s energy intensity was in the lowest quartile of the G20 countries and on par with developed economies such as Canada and the US.

The G20 represents 66% of the global population, 85% of global GDP and 76% of global carbon emissions, and also include the top five carbon emitters (China, US, India, Russia and Japan) and the large emerging and growing economies of China, Russia, India and Brazil.

Australia’s total equivalent carbon emissions per million dollars of GDP are below the average of the G20 countries, and are similar to Canada.

This differs markedly from per capita emissions, in which Australia is often shown to be the worst performing country in the G20, Deloitte said.

The Australian Petroleum Production and Exploration Association noted that Australia’s carbon emission productivity had been improving in both absolute terms and relative to the G20 average.

Over the period from 2001-2011, Australia averaged 1.6% economic growth while keeping total carbon emissions growth to an average of 1.2% – meaning carbon intensity improved, APPEA said.

APPEA chief executive David Byers said that to achieve the G20’s goals to enhance global prosperity while also reducing global emissions, energy policy and climate policy must recognise the link between emissions and GDP, as well as the differing roles of various nations.

Australia is the G20’s second-largest natural gas exporter (after Russia). Its major LNG customers – Japan, China and South Korea – are also G20 members.

“Australia’s role as an exporter of flexible and reliable lower-emissions energy – in the form of LNG – means it can help drive economic growth as well as reductions in emissions,” Byers said.

“Because natural gas is a much cleaner-burning fuel than traditional energy sources, exporting natural gas to the world and using more natural gas domestically are among the most meaningful contributions Australia can make to reducing global greenhouse emissions.”

He noted that the International Panel on Climate Change’s recent fifth assessment synthesis report highlighted the important role of natural gas in reducing greenhouse gas emissions, noting on page SYR-51: “GHG emissions from energy supply can be reduced by replacing current world average coal fired power plants with modern, highly efficient natural gas combined cycle power plants or combined heat and power plant.”

In February, G20 finance ministers and Central Bank governors committed to developing new measures aimed at raising G20 economic output in the next five years by at least 2% above the currently projected level. This would boost global GDP by more than $2 trillion and create millions of additional jobs, Byers said.