Australia will push for more accountability from rival trading countries on their emissions reduction targets at next week's Paris climate conference, so that commitments and achievements can be easily tracked in five-yearly "stocktakes". 
Amid criticism that Australia's net emissions are increasing and targets are too low, Environment Minister Greg Hunt told a National Press Club lunch that Australia had met its 2020 carbon abatement targets five years early, and is ahead by 28 million tonnes in abatement.
Mr Hunt faced questions on Wednesday on whether the relative ease of meeting this goal called for a more ambitious target than the government's new aim to cut emissions by 26 to 28 per cent from 2005 levels by 2030.
He said the government may consider more ambitious goals in the future, but Australia was currently focusing on accountability.
"We have been at the forefront of developed countries arguing for and proposing five-year reviews and so we have prepared ourselves to be able to look out and achieve [our goals], over a 15-year period.
"No doubt that we will all be asked to come back, probably in 2020, probably in 2025 and then again in 2030, to review, to update the stocktake and reset more ambitious targets," he said.

CARRY FORWARD SURPLUS
Mr Hunt said depending on negotiations Australia was considering whether it could carry forward surplus from beating its targets into post-2020 negotiations.
"It then allows us to consider, once we know the rules for the post-2020 period, the way in which we can carry over," he said.
Melbourne consulting firm RepuTex said on Monday that Australia's net emissions were rising and it was only by way of an "accounting benefit" from the previous Kyoto Protocol that Australia was meeting its target.
The firm forecast Australia's emissions will increase to 4 per cent above 2000 levels by 2020, rather than the official target of minus 5 per cent on 2000 levels.
Labor climate spokesman Mark Butler said this showed Australia was only meeting targets via "technical operations of accounting rules" and "carbon pollution is going up under this government". Asked if Labor would use different accounting rules, Mr Butler said he was "not suggesting that".
Mr Hunt defended his numbers on Wednesday, saying the government uses "international UN accounting rules".
He said the world is not yet on track for the global goal of keeping temperature rises to less than 2 degrees. He has previously said he doubts a commitment to 2 degrees will be achieved in the Paris meeting, and instead "an outcome of about 2.7 degrees" was more likely.