subject: Australia PM pledges climate plan posted: Sun, 03 Jun 2007 13:33:00 +0100
[Oh hello and welcome to the 21st century, he's bang on of course, if
Howard gets it wrong it will cause tremendous damage to the economy,
because of course there won't be any economy at all if climate change
gets anywhere near the worst-case scenarios.
Yes, he sees it backwards but that's because he's part of the fat,
old, white, male brigade who haven't got a clue.
This issue is so big it's carrying people with it even though they
don't want to come, Howard among them. A spectacular backflip,
though it was entirely predictable, see this:
Incidentally, this idea of national carbon trading schemes is so
quaint. A global trading scheme will work much more efficiently.
These national schemes are just attempts by sidelined "leaders" to
retain a feeling of control. The sooner they wake up and realise
it's not their party and they can't choose the music, the better.
Australian Prime Minister John Howard has announced a shift in policy
on climate change, promising to set up a carbon trading scheme to cut
pollution.
Mr Howard said he would set a target next year for limiting
greenhouse gas emissions and also pledged to put in place a carbon
trading scheme by 2012.
Australia is one of the worst polluters per head of population in the
world.
Despite his new plans, Mr Howard has warned that setting a cap on
carbon emissions would hurt the economy.
His announcement comes ahead of a national election later this year,
in which Mr Howard will be seeking his fifth consecutive win.
The opposition Labor party, which has a strong lead in the opinion
polls, has portrayed the government as dithering and backward-looking
on global warming, reports the BBC's Phil Mercer in Sydney.
Labor has pledged to cut greenhouse gas emissions by 60% by 2050. Mr
Howard does not plan to reveal his targets until next year, once the
economic costs of carbon trading have been fully studied.
"Implementing an emissions trading scheme and setting a long-term
goal for reducing emissions will be the most momentous economic
decision Australia will take in the next decade," Mr Howard told an
annual meeting of his Liberal Party.
"If we get this wrong it will do enormous damage to the economy, to
jobs and to the economic well-being of ordinary Australians,
especially low-income households."
'Better scheme'
Australia and the US are the only major industrialised nations not to
ratify the 1997 Kyoto Protocol on cutting greenhouse gas emissions.
Mr Howard promised that Australia's carbon trading scheme would be
better than those in place in Europe.
Australia has recently seen record drought conditions, which have
harmed economic growth and caused widespread despair among the
farming community.
Residents have been ordered to cut back on consumption and farm
production has plummeted.
Some experts believe that these parched conditions are the result of
the world's hunger for fossil fuels, while others though see it as
part of a natural cycle.
Whatever the arguments, many Australians want their leaders to be far
more proactive when it comes to the environment, our correspondent
says.