Methane-belching camels that roam the Australian Outback could be slaughtered by marksmen to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

The Australian government wants the killing of wild camels to be officially registered as a means of reducing the country's greenhouse gas emissions under a proposed law to be voted on in parliament next week.

The marksmen would earn so-called carbon credits.

If culling is registered, industrial polluters around the world would be able to offset their own carbon emissions by buying the carbon credits from the shooters.

Politician Mark Dreyfus said today that he hopes attaching carbon credits to each camel killed will lead to their extinction in the Australian wild.

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