Australia seventh-worst polluter on Earth

MELBOURNE: Australia has been ranked as the seventh top polluter mainly due to carbon emissions, a report said.

Conservation group World Wildlife Fund ( WWF) in its report said the spiralling global population and over-consumption are threatening the future health of the planet, ABC news reported.

WWF released this year's Living Planet Report, which has estimated humans are using 50 per cent more resources than the planet can provide. If everyone lived like the average Australian, it would take 3.76 planets to support the world's population, the report said.

Qatar ranked on the top followed by Kuwait, UAE, Denmark, the United States and Belgium. WWF Australia ecologist Martin Taylor said it's a top 10 ranking the nation should be ashamed of.

The results of the survey were calculated by comparing renewable resources consumed against the Earth's regenerative capacity. The demand on natural resources has become unsustainable and is putting "tremendous" pressure on the planet's biodiversity, the WWF said.

The report found that high-income countries have an ecological footprint on average five times that of low-income ones. "If the rest of the world lived the way we did, we'd need four planets," Taylor said adding "We've only got one I'm afraid so something has to give at some point."

Carbon emissions are the top contributor to Australia's footprint, which the report measures in "global hectares" - a measure of the productive land and water area required to support our consumption and pollution levels.