Speaking to journalists on Tuesday April 27, Rudd confirmed that his government would shelve the plans until 2013 and insisted that the blame lay at the feet of opposition members of parliament, whom he accused of performing a “backflip” on earlier promises to support the proposal.
“The implementation of a Carbon Pollution Reduction Scheme in Australia will therefore be extended until after the conclusion of the current Kyoto commitment period, which finishes at the end of 2012,” Rudd said. “By the end of that period, the governments around the world will be required to make clear their commitments for the post-2012 period. And that will provide therefore the Australian government at that time, at the end of 2012, with a better position to assess the level of global action on climate change prior to the implementation of a CPRS in Australia.”
“Our commitment to the greenhouse gas reduction targets that I've outlined before remains unchanged,” Rudd insisted. “Secondly, our commitment to the introduction of a Carbon Pollution Reduction Scheme as the most effective and least expensive way of proceeding in action on climate change remains unchanged,” he added.
Rudd wanted the scheme to cut Australia's carbon emissions by up to 25% from 2000 levels by 2020.
When he was elected prime minister in 2007, Rudd initially promised tough action on climate change. He hoped to introduce a carbon trading scheme for the nation’s largest 1,000 polluters by July 2011. But he delayed the vote in June 2009 in the face of mounting opposition. The carbon trading legislation was rejected for a second time in December when it failed to pass through the Senate, the upper house of Australia's parliament, where several independent members hold the balance of power.
Rudd is expected to call an election in 2011 and opposition leader Tony Abbott has proposed using fiscal policy to tackle climate change, rather than a trading scheme.
Under his proposals, Australian businesses that reduce emissions below their baseline or “business as usual” activity would be able to sell their carbon emission abatement to the government. “This will provide a direct financial incentive for firms to take action to reduce emissions below baseline levels,” Abbott’s policy reads. Businesses that emit above their ‘business as usual’ levels will incur a financial penalty, though he has yet to reveal the details of this.
Australia is one of the world’s largest emitters of carbon dioxide per capita, with 18.8 tonnes a head in 2007. Among large countries, only the US has a higher rate, with 19.1 tonnes.
Colin Packham, Sydney, cpackham@fow.com