The Gillard government has released an industry and state-based breakdown of the 500 firms forced to pay up under the carbon tax. But who are they?
Emissions targets
Garnaut still distracted by the search for the ‘holy grail’
Amid predictable exchanges of hysteria and jubilation from the warring factions in the carbon price debate, a more fundamental set of concerns about Ross Garnaut’s advice has been missed, writes Fergus Green, a lawyer and policy analyst specialising in climate change.
Crikey Says: Digesting the budget bottom line
It seems Abbott’s managed to inspire the Climate Commission, who overnight released their first official report, entitled The Critical Decade.
Any way you look at it, our carbon task just got much harder
The good news: Australia will comfortably meet its Kyoto emission reduction target. But there’s bad news: the task of meeting Australia’s pledge to the Copenhagen Accord has just gotten a lot harder, says Giles Parkinson.
Akerman: What part of the word “failure” doesn’t Rudd understand?
Copenhagen was an “abject disaster, a dud, a dog, a bust” and a “flopperoo of grand proportions”, says Piers Akerman — so why is he still determined to push forward with an ETS?
Wilson: It used to be about the music — Rudd sells out
By supporting the Copenhagen Accord, Kevin Rudd has sold out Australia’s ability to negotiate on future climate deals for very little in return, says Tim Wilson.
Rudd — go green or go home
With the Coalition now unlikely to cut a deal with the Government on an ETS, Kevin Rudd’s best hope may be to commit to a much more serious emissions target of 25% to gain the support of the Greens.
Obama’s secret climate deals with China and India
Behind-the-scenes on his recent trip to Asia, Barack Obama was pushing China and India to come to the negotiating table on carbon emissions for Copenhagen, reveals Michael Wolff — and it’s looking like he had some success.
Is China’s emissions pledge enough?
China’s “carbon intensity” reduction pledge is better than most developing nations will offer, but will probably not see an actual reduction in the country’s carbon emissions. Will Beijing come to the negotiating table at Copenhagen?
Guardian: Australia’s Copenhagen strategy is a sham
The Guardian calls out Kevin Rudd’s sneaky 25% emission reduction pledge: the conditions the rest of the world have to meet for Australia to honour it are so stringent that Rudd is unlikely to ever have to deliver.
China’s carbon reduction pledge: 40-45%… with a few caveats
China has joined the US in bringing a concrete carbon pledge to Copenhagen: a 40-45% “carbon intensity” reduction, relative to economic growth, compared with 2005 levels. What the hell does that even mean?
How do different countries’ emissions pledges stack up?
A site produced by European climate change NGOs assesses individual country’s pledges on carbon emission reduction, weighing them up against each other and the numbers scientists say we need to be aiming for.
Obama to pledge 17% emissions cut at Copenhagen
Barack Obama will make a token appearance at the Copenhagen climate summit, pledging a token 17% emissions cut by 2020 — well below the 25-40% cut scientists say is needed to curb climate change.
Bargaining over CPRS comes down to one thing: compensation
So after months of negotiations the CPRS comes down to one thing: how much should the government give to big polluters to compensate them for, or shield them from the effects of the scheme, writes Andrew Macintosh.
How Obama’s China trip killed Copenhagen
Despite all the fanfare around Obama’s trip to China, he failed to make any headway with the country in securing support for serious emissions targets, says Steve Clemons. As a result, Copenhagen is now dead.
Rumors of Copenhagen’s death have been greatly exaggerated
The Copenhagen climate summit hasn’t even started, yet the mainstream media are already writing its obituary. But the pundits are wrong, says David Turnbull: a climate treaty can still be reached at the conference.
Greens get the climate poll they paid for
The Greens recently commissioned a Galaxy poll on public opinion to the Government’s ETS and, surprise surprise says Andrew Norton: it found Australians want a more ambitious emissions target.
Making the most of failure in Copenhagen
Next month’s climate summit in Copenhagen is doomed to failure, says Philip Stephens. But if scientists and world leaders are going to go anyway, there are a few more realistic goals they achieve to at least make it a successful failure.
Copenhagen reality check #1: 25% by 2020 isn’t in the ball park
You can bet your house that Copenhagen will not conclude with a 25% mandatory target for all the developed economies. But is that even what we need to do, or is the whole of the Copenhagen process wrapped in an enormous delusion? asks David Spratt.
Don’t get your hopes up for Copenhagen
The likelihood that climate change negotiations in Copenhagen in December will produce a comprehensive treaty on global warming are now looking pretty slim, with the US, like Australia, still squabbling domestically over the issue.
The CPRS is pointless. It’s Copenhagen that counts
Whether the CPRS gets up or not will make no difference to global temperatures, writes Dr Richard Denniss. Why Malcolm Turnbull would stake his leadership on something so meaningless defies logic.
The high price of carbon aid: a climate sleeper
It’s not just carbon emission targets that will vex developed world governments in Copenhagen — they also need to decide how much assistance to provide to developing countries.
Japan to cut emissions by 25%
Japan’s incoming PM Yukio Hatoyama has vowed to reduce the country’s greenhouse gas emissions by 25% by the year 2020, putting the country at the forefront of the fight against climate change. Now Japan has made the first leap, will other countries in the region *cough*Australia*cough* follow?
Turnbull’s CPRS: international permits plus a few bells and whistles
Economists all know that allowing more trade in permits globally will achieve the same emissions reduction for much less cost, says Joshua Gans, and that is the real policy here: everything else is just bells and whistles.
