Crikey

Clean coal. Really … really? Garnaut’s speech framed the debate thus:

1. Climate change is an insidious and diabolical problem, not one requiring direct confrontation.
2. Delusionists are people advocating no action or policy makers considering small or symbolic steps that would not address the structural challenges required.
3. Our prosperity over the past 25 years is a result of ‘turning our back on protectionism and xenophobia’ and having the luck of the resource boom.
4. Because we’ve agreed at Kyoto that we neither have the moral authority to deny Chinindiazil their development narratives and to cut emissions first, the solution to the problem lies in decoupling GHG emissions from GDP growth.

Ergo, clean coal. *slaps forehead*  — dk.au, commenting at Larvatus Prodeo’s Open Thread

Big changes needed. In announcing his findings, Professor Garnaut urged Australia to adopt a broad-based emissions trading scheme. He warned against deluding ourselves into believing small actions would be an appropriate response. — Luke, The West, blogs

Next item on the agenda? It’s got me concerned but now I’ll get Ross Garnaut to work out how we trade Belinda Neal. — Kevin Rudd R Less

The worst thing since Whitlam. Ross Garnaut: Architect of the destruction of the Australian economy. Garnaut’s unworkable emmissions trading scheme promises to do more damage to the economy than even the Whitlam government did in the 1970s, and that’s saying something. — Radical Green Watch HQ

Modeling the future. There’s a lot of discussion of the Murray Darling Basin where the worst-case projections are about as grim as they can possibly be. My UQ research group (Risk and Sustainable Management Group) did the economic modelling that translated the climatic projections into predicted changes in land and water use. There are big adverse impacts under most of the ‘business as usual’ scenarios. On the other hand, in the projections where CO2 concentrations are held to 450 ppm things aren’t bad, and even 550 ppm would still allow irrigation to continue. — John Quiggin