More flaws in emissions trading scheme

Any policy that undermines voluntary action is unacceptable.

A ministerial brief to the Victorian Government confirms criticism that cuts in greenhouse gas emissions achieved by households and governments will not be additional to industry targets under the emissions trading scheme, but will instead decrease pressure on industry to cut emissions.

The brief advises that the state should only bother with green measures if they are more cost-effective than alternatives.  They have been told to rethink programs such as subsidies for solar farms and hybrid car fleets because these will not contribute to any additional emission cuts under the federal scheme.

It appears that emission trading scheme is even more industry-friendly than the overall target of 5 to 15 per cent cuts in emissions by 2020.  Senator Wong has some explaining to do if Australians are not to be discouraged from doing all the things — whether buying GreenPower, installing solar panels or catching public transport — that they should be doing to achieve a national transformation to sustainable consumption and energy use.

In the Senate, the Greens have concerns about the cost of emission permits being reduced by the actions of households, councils and governments, hence reducing industry’s incentive to cut emissions.

I agree that the government needs to be concerned about job losses that major emitters say will result from the costs of carbon permits. However, this ignores large-scale creation of jobs in new industries — as is happening already in innovative nations overseas.  Experience from around the world — in the US, Europe, in China, in India — is you get rapid deployment of capital into the renewable sector and tens of thousands of jobs are created and those jobs are more secure than those in the manufacturing and fossil fuel sectors.  Additionally development of 21st-century technology and expertise would put Australia and its workers in a more competitive position relative to low-wage, low-skill nations that

This is more than simply an economic debate. We all need to pull together including individuals and households who should also be reducing their emissions. Achieving sustainability is a grassroots exercise that involves the entire community, and Australians are becoming aware of the need to remake the economy and society. The momentum must not be lost.

It is government’s responsibility to articulate this future direction to industry and business, rather than pander to entrenched interests rooted in 19th and 20th-century economic models. Many Australians see beyond the old paradigm and a majority of voters elected the Rudd

Government in large part because they believed it would lead the way in responding to climate change. It must do so.

Technorati Tags: carbon permits, emissions trading scheme, greenhouse emissions

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This entry was posted on Sunday, March 29th, 2009 at 10:12 pm and is filed under Global Warming, Climate Change & Energy. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.