Australian carbon cuts to be limited
Updated
After a long debate, Australia has set its target to cut carbon pollution at a low five per cent by the year 2020.
Should the world agree on global action .. Australia would cut deeper, to fifteen percent. The Prime Minister Kevin Rudd says international economic conditions are making a global deal very hard and he wants to balance taking the initiative and protecting Australia's economy.
Presenter: Linda Mottram
Speaker: Kevin Rudd, Australia's prime minister; Australia's Prime Minister, Kevin Rudd; Doctor Frank Jotzo, Australian National University.
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MOTTRAM: Releasing the government's carbon pollution reduction scheme, Kevin Rudd stressed how much he believes is at stake.
RUDD: Today this generation, our generation stands at the crossroads of history. We are the first generation empowered with the fullest understanding of climate change and we are the first generation to experience the tangible effects of climate change on our planet. So the question for our generation is simple. Do we act on the knowledge that we have in our possession or do we wait, leaving the effects of climate change to our children and our grandchildren, by which time it may well be too late.
MOTTRAM: Though Mr Rudd has set a low carbon reduction target, the domestic debate remains vigorous from environment groups.
ENVIRONMENTALIST: This is a climate emergency and the Rudd government's behaving as if its got all the time in the world to basically reward the polluters.
MOTTRAM: To industry's perspective.
INDUSTRIALIST: Any targets, even the targets that have been set today have to operate in the real world and in the real world there are costs and when we're dealing with an economic firestorm, those costs mean very serious risks.
MOTTRAM: There are shades in between but the tone befits the seriousness of the issue. The government says the measures amount to one of the most important structural reforms of the Australian economy, in an effort to move from being one of the biggest carbon emitters per capita, to a low carbon economy. Australia pledges to cut its carbon emissions by 5 per cent by 2020 and by 15 per cent if global agreement is reached on a new climate change deal. Industry and consumers in Australia will be compensated with the funds the government raises from selling permits to pollute to industry. Kevin Rudd says its a balance between signalling political will to the world, but not unnecessarily disadvantaging Australia's economy before global agreement is reached. Expert in climate change economics and international negotiations, Doctor Frank Jotzo, from the Australian National University says the target is low, compared to the 25% cuts scientists say is needed. But Doctor Jotzo says the strategy is right.
JOTZO: Because it shows Australia is prepared to do something and is prepared to go harder if others do likewise. The disappointing thing is just that at this point in time, the stronger option, the minus 25 per cent option hasn't even been put on the table by the Australian government.
MOTTRAM: But Australia's government says when looked at per head of population, a five per cent cut represents a 27 per cent cut in emissions, because of Australia's small population. The per capita argument is an important one. India for example, with high emissions but a big population, sees it as an argument against forced emissions cuts, just as its economy is developing. So the signal from Australia is that it accepts the per capita argument. Another big emitter in the region is China, and Kevin Rudd says he is not optimistic about China's ability to give strong commitments on climate change mitigation, now that its economic troubles are mounting. But Dr Frank Jotzo sees a chance even in the midst of economic slowdown.
JOTZO: In the US, which is really where China will be looking to before anyone else, there are clear signs that Obama is intent on linking the climate change and economic stimulus agenda, by way of fostering investment in clean energy, and that's certainly a road that China could go down on as well and if that were the case, then we could see action in China at an accelerated pace, but that's certainly not something to be taken for granted.
MOTTRAM: And that's where Dr Jotzo says its disappointing that Australia's new package doesn't include a mention of even deeper emissions cuts by 2020, given the outside chance that the US and China make a breakthrough at the Copenhagen climate change conference next year.
