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Business Spectator – Rudd’s carbon flop

 Rudd’s carbon flop Business Spectator Giles Parkinson 8 Dec 08

It’s just a week away from the release of the Rudd government’s white paper on carbon trading and its interim targets on carbon reduction, and there is growing speculation the path of least political resistance will be chosen, along with a modest reduction target of between 5 and 15 per cent.

Let’s hope not. For a start, a soft target would mean the government abandoning any pretence that it was a ‘leader’ on the issue of tackling climate change. Instead, it will suffer the ignominy of being the first developed country to run up the white flag as the world embarks on the tortuous negotiations for a successor to the Kyoto Protocol, where the UN is pushing for cuts of between 25 and 40 per cent………………a compromise target of 10 per cent ……………… fails to recognise the opportunities and the economies of energy efficiency and the potential of new technologies. It fails the science – and you’d have to wonder why the government would be doing any of this if it didn’t believe in it – and it fails to satisfy the business craving for regulatory certainty.

For nearly a decade, investment in energy infrastructure in this country has been virtually paralysed by the federal government’s weak stance on climate change policy and an inability to plot a likely carbon price and build that into investment models.

Now, more than ever – thanks to the financial crisis and the recession it will inevitably cause – the country needs a strong carbon price signal that can provide a fillip to major investment. And it needs it soon, not in five or 10 years time.

Business Spectator – Rudd’s carbon flop

Tags: globalwarming

December 8, 2008 - Posted by Christina Macpherson | Uncategorized