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Kevin Rudd set to soften stance on energy

Kevin Rudd set to soften stance on energy THE AUSTRALIAN

ENERGY-HUNGRY industries could be offered exemptions from the federal Government’s new 20 per cent renewable energy target, as Kevin Rudd struggles to win support for his climate change policies in the face of the global economic crisis.

The Prime Minister will ask premiers to sign off on the further concessions for the industries at tomorrow’s Council of Australian Governments meeting in Hobart…………………………..

Climate Change Minister Penny Wong said clear domestic laws were crucial to the success of the UN climate change talks in Copenhagen in December to determine a successor agreement to the Kyoto Protocol, which expires in 2012.

Speaking from Washington, where she is attending a meeting of ministers from major emitting nations as part of a process organised by US President Barack Obama to inject momentum into the Copenhagen negotiations, Senator Wong said: “The consistent message has been that international negotiations have to be underpinned by domestic actions.”………………………..

The Australian Conservation Foundation, the ACTU, the Australian Council of Social Service and the Climate Institute think tank wrote to Kevin Rudd last week arguing against any exemptions from the target.

The groups said they could see “no public policy justification for assistance to Australia’s most polluting industries under RET, particularly in the context of the generous, poorly targeted assistance to industry proposed in the CPRS.”

Kevin Rudd set to soften stance on energy | The Australian

April 30, 2009 - Posted by Christina Macpherson | Uncategorized