The Greens, Garnaut And The CPRS Deadlock
Affordable DIY Online Ticketing – TryBooking
January 22, 2010Supermarket Clout In The Liquor Industry
January 23, 2010Bob Brown and Christine Milne of The Greens – have a ‘Garnautesque’ interim proposal to break the Carbon Pollution Reduction Scheme (CPRS) deadlock and get Australia actually acting on climate change.
The Original Garnaut Proposal
Professor Garnaut suggested we have a two year carbon price fixed at $20 a tonne.
As an interim measure in the transition to a functional and effective emissions trading scheme this would provide a $5 billion dividend for households and further revenue to invest in renewable energy, energy efficiency and other emissions reducing options.
Bob Brown says:
“The interim scheme is a building block for future action that’s got real teeth. It will give certainty to increasingly impatient investors and will direct billions of dollars to Australia’s householders instead of paying polluters to keep polluting.
If we can get broad, cross-party support for this proposal it will show both investors and global negotiators that Australia is serious about tackling the climate crisis.”
Proposal Details
• use the existing CPRS structure with a carbon price fixed at $20 a tonne (2005 dollars)
• recycle revenue to support household, commercial, industrial and transport emissions reductions
• prevent the use of international offsets in the CPRS, as international trading is not possible in the interim fixed-price period
• be in surplus rather than deficit in the first two years
• get moving immediately, bringing the start date back to July 1 2010
Christine Milne says:
“The beauty of this interim proposal is that it sends investors the beginnings of the signal they need without locking in climate failure, as the CPRS would do in its current state…
This scheme is designed to be strengthened later whereas, if the CPRS is passed as it stands, it will be almost impossible to lift its ambition. Unlike the CPRS, there is no way this proposal can hold back action…
With no prospect of Mr Abbott supporting the CPRS, bringing the bill back in February is looking like a political exercise that will get the government nowhere…
We propose to move immediately with an interim low carbon price. We can then discuss the longer term solutions Australia will need over the coming two years, secure in the knowledge that a carbon price is already in place, helping to unleash innovative and job creating climate solutions.”
Going back to Garnaut IS an option…
1 Comment
The Garnaut option is no option for Central Queensland communities like Mackay. These type of proposals including the ETS (or the misnamed CPRS) will only destroy jobs in mining and mining support industries. The reality is the ETS has nothing to do with carbon pollution reduction and neither does this proposal of the Greens. It should really be called a P2PS – a Pay To Pollute Scheme. All it does is raise the price of carbon for consumers, not impacting on substantially on major users (who will just lay of jobs to save money or put prices up or both). Essentially, the same amount of carbon dioxide gets pumped out into the air and all we do is pay more for it. Hell. the government will even compensate you for it if you meet the right income fit (although mine workers don’t so they’ll get the double whammy of employment put at risk and household budget slugged). What we need is practical measures to help the environment – planting trees, investing in carbon capture and renewable energy projects.