AUSTRALIA: Government advised to take unilateral climate stance
Updated
Delegations from more than 180 countries will meet next month on the Indonesian island of Bali to negotiate a successor to the Kyoto Protocol on climate change, which expires in 2012. But a former advisor to Australia's international climate delegation says Bali is unlikely to reach a uniform post-Kyoto agreement, and says Australia should make its own stand on climate policy.
Presenter: Sarah Clarke
Speakers: Dr Brian Fisher, lead author on the 4th report by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change and former advisor to Australian delegations to UN climate change meetings; Robert Shapiro, former advisor to United States President Bill Clinton and British Prime Minister Tony Blair; Warwick McKibbon, Australian National University
Dr Brian Fisher, lead author on the 4th report by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change and former advisor to Australian delegations to UN climate change meetings; Robert Shapiro, former advisor to United States President Bill Clinton and British Prime Minister Tony Blair; Warwick McKibbon, Australian National University
SARAH CLARKE: It's been a big year in the climate debate. Not only has there been three reports from the world's largest and most reliable scientific panel, warning that climate change is unequivocal, but a final report out this weekend is expected to deliver a dire forecast. That's why the UN wants its climate conference in Bali next month to set out an effective road map to cut the planet's growing emissions.
But Brian Fisher, who played a key role on Australia's delegation at four UN conferences says, don't expect too much.
BRIAN FISHER: I don't expect to see us achieving much environmental success out of Bali. Frankly, I think we would be far better to be putting our effort into the Asia Pacific Partnership on Clean Development and Climate, for example, and trying to do real deals with real people in rooms, bilaterally.
SARAH CLARKE: Dr Brian Fisher is also a lead author on the fourth report by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. He says any international deal could be at least 30 years down the track.
And while he played an integral role on Australia's negotiating team at the Kyoto meeting, he argues that agreement isn't the answer.
BRIAN FISHER: No, I don't believe it is, and I think that the protocol was a first step in a process. It taught us a lot about the negotiations but effectively it sets up an arrangement under the convention where developed countries only take on targets and there is no real transition away from that.
SARAH CLARKE: Today the Committee for Economic Development of Australia, also known as CEDA, released 12 papers warning of new energy pricing.
Robert Shapiro is a lead author of one report and the former adviser to United States president, Bill Clinton and the British prime minister, Tony Blair. He says the most effective way to tackle climate change internationally is to hit consumers with a carbon tax.
ROBERT SHAPIRO: The best way to drive change is to provide people with economic incentives to change. The carbon tax raises the price of energy and provides the incentive to do that.
SARAH CLARKE: Not everyone agrees.
Warwick McKibbin is an economist from the Australian National University and sits on the board of the Reserve Bank. He says a carbon tax needs to be combined with a carbon trading system if Australia is to get consumers to change.
WARWICK MCKIBBIN: The reality is that we don't want to pay excessive costs, however defined, to get the environmental benefits down the road. We need to balance and while we balance I think we can achieve a successful outcome for the environment and for the economy.
