Deeper emission cuts a 'pie in the sky', says former RBA governor Bernie Fraser 5 per cent emissions target already a big ask: Bernie Fraser. Bernie Fraser's seven-year stint as former Reserve Bank governor would have left him with precise analytic skills and a thick hide. With the release of the draft report on Australia's carbon emissions reductions - which examined the potential for raising the 2020 goal to 15 or 25 per cent of 2000 levels from a minimum 5 per cent - it's possible indifference to vitriol might come in more handy of the two traits. The current 5 per cent target "is already a big ask" for business, declared Australian Industry Group's Chief Executive Innes Willox. Deeper cuts are merely "pie in the sky without an economically responsible plan to reach them." To be sure, even those willing to pay a price to limit carbon emissions will wonder at the authority's estimates of how easy it will be to triple - or quintuple - the goal. Others have long since accepted Tony Abbott's mantra that the carbon tax even at current settings would cripple the economy. Mr Fraser anticipates complaints about his goals - should they ever be implemented - that might have served well in recent years. "There will be pockets of difficulties that may occur," Mr Fraser said. They won't necessarily be related to a toughening of emissions targets but they may be perceived to be or blamed to be. By the authority's modelling, 0ur gross national income per person will tick higher at 0.76 per cent rate annually by 2020 with a 25 per cent target, not far off the 0.8 per cent pace with a 5 per cent goal. In five months, we would arrive at the same place but with a much less carbon-intensive economy. And that tally doesn't take into account the costs avoided if we - and the rest of the world - really did stick to business as usual, and left the world on its warming way. To achieve the 25 per cent cut means 1203 million tonnes of abatement will be needed for 2013-2020. Potentially 909 million tonnes of that could be imported. Depending on the price of those imports, that amount could be $681 million at Tuesday's price for UN Certified Emissions Reduction units, or $6.7 billion if European Union allowances were bought. Even at a $30 price for international permits, deemed "wildly conservative" by the authority, the import bill for a 25 per cent cut would be about $27 billion over seven years. Of course, the whole exercise is likely to be academic given the Abbott government's vow to leave goals unchanged until a review in 2015 and to scrap the carbon price. Even the ALP, which fought for years to price emissions, appears poised to capitulate. The authority's final report is due in February by which time it would be able to assess the government's direct action plan - if it's not been scrapped itself by then.