Climate report recommends Australian emissions trading scheme
Updated
![Economics professor Ross Garnaut says there should be no hesitation in starting an emissions trading scheme. [ABC]](http://www.radioaustralia.net.au/img/news/base/aus_garnaut_abc_file.jpg "Economics professor Ross Garnaut says there should be no hesitation in starting an emissions trading scheme. [ABC]")
Economics professor Ross Garnaut says there should be no hesitation in starting an emissions trading scheme. [ABC]
A long awaited climate change report has been handed down in Australia, calling for the establishment of an emissions trading scheme to cut greenhouse gases.
Economics professor Ross Garnaut is calling for an industry permit system to cap greenhouse emissions.
But he says there should be a delay in including agriculture because it's hard to measure the greenhouse emissions in that sector.
He warns consumers will pay more for electricity and a range of other goods and services when an emissions trading scheme starts, and says those in rural areas will face the highest costs.
Threat to natural wonders
Professor Garnaut has warned that iconic natural wonders, like the Australian Great Barrier Reef could die out, even if an emissions trading scheme is introduced.
His draft report warns that it's possible Australia will not avoid a large and costly impact on the environment and industry, and the focus must shift to adaptation.
"We are forced to decide what consumption of goods and services we would be prepared to forgo, to avoid loss of things that we value," he said.
The report states that even with moderate reductions in emissions - the Great Barrier Reef could still disappear, and there'd be a 20 per cent decline in agricultural production from the Murray Darling basin.
If nothing is done, Professor Garnaut warns that by the end of the century there'd be another 4,000 heat-related deaths in Queensland alone, and there'd be significant risk to coastal buildings from rising sea levels and storms.
