The sheer cost of the Coalition’s CPRS demands — $1.6b in the first full year and over $20b between now and 2020 — will be the biggest problem as Penny Wong and Ian Macfarlane sit down to negotiate this afternoon.
Emissions trading
Taylor: This is just round one
Malcolm Turnbull is about to face a big dilemma, says Lenore Taylor: the Government is unlikely to agree to all of his CPRS amendments, and his own party is unlikely to accept any compromise.
Davidson: Remember when this debate was actually about climate change?
The Federal Government and Opposition have both polluted the emissions trading debate with infighting and political power plays, says Kenneth Davidson. Neither party is offering a clear or realistic vision to combat global warming.
Grattan: Turnbull’s won the battle, but not the war
Malcolm Turnbull may have won the first fight with his party over emissions trading, but there are two much bigger battles ahead, says Michelle Grattan: negotiating with the government, then trying to get that deal through the party room. This war is far from over.
Coalition to deal on Rudd’s CPRS
Malcolm Turnbull has finally worn the Coalition backbench down on emissions trading. Bernard Keane looks at the amendments he’ll be bringing to the negotiating table.
Wong boring everyone to tears with details of flawed CPRS
Penny Wong is a climate sceptic. She may use the term to describe those who ignore the overwhelming science about the causes of climate change, yet she ignores those same scientists when it comes to actual policy, writes Dr Richard Denniss.
Wayne Swan’s $3.2b CPRS con job
Wayne Swan has told the media that Frontier Economics’ greenhouse gas proposal has a $3.2b hole in it. There is no such black hole, writes Frontier chief Danny Price: it’s just a good old-fashioned beat up.
Greens talk common sense on climate bill
This morning the Greens launched a raft of amendments to improve the Government’s CPRS bill — and they’re the most sensible suggestions any party has made on the issue in some time.
Farr: Three elections in five years? No chance.
Even if the ETS doesn’t get passed, it’s highly unlikely that PM Kevin Rudd will pull the double dissolution trigger because it would condemn voters to three elections in just five years, writes Malcolm Farr.
Beijing builds the Wall Street of carbon trading
They may still be one of the biggest polluters in the world, but China is laying the groundwork to build an epic carbon trading market, which it claims will let Western companies offset their emissions faster and cheaper than in the US or the EU.
Emissions trading — it worked for acid rain
In the US, they are attempting to battle climate change with a controversial ‘cap and trade’ scheme. Could it work? Will it unfairly burden the taxpayer? Well, it did work for acid rain. Listen to the All Things Considered podcast too.
CPRS bills succumb to a quiet defeat
The Government’s CPRS bills slipped to a quiet and deserved defeat this morning in the Senate, to much excitement here in Parliament House but, one suspects, yawning non-interest from voters.
Crikey Says: Emissions trading debate: is this the best we can do?
This entire debate is being conducted under false pretenses. Is this really the best our democracy can do?
Turnbull seals his fate
The notion of fighting the government’s ETS by producing one of your own is complete incompetence and shows Malcolm Turnbull just doesn’t “get” politics, says Graham Young. This will be the final nail in his coffin.
Rudd scores global coup on carbon capture
If the world turned its back on coal because of carbon emissions, Australia would sustain significant economic damage, Bernard Keane explains the significance of carbon capture and storage for our nation.
US climate change bill passes first hurdle
Greenies the world over have been, by turns, snorting and smiling into their morning fair-trade rooibos over a climate bill passed by the US House of Representatives on Friday.
GetUp: laying our climate strategy on the table
GetUp is trying to ensure Australia is not a blocker in international climate negotiations in Copenhagen this December, writes GetUp’s Meredith Turnbull and Simon Sheikh.
Greenhouse niggard to review treasury ETS modelling
Climate action opponent Brian Fisher should have automatically been excluded from any “independent” review of the modelling, writes Bernard Keane.
NZ election “politics on speed”
Minor parties have been wooed, cabinet places are being brokered, and the opposition have been through a speedy, bloodless leadership change, writes Tim Watkin.
Wanted — one agenda for Federal Government.
Judging by Wayne Swan’s performance yesterday, he was so flabbergasted by what the international financial crisis has done to his budget that he’d become thoroughly disorientated, writes Bernard Keane.
Mungo: On climate change and the Liberal party frog
The frog is well and truly in the pot and the water is getting steadily hotter. If we want to stop it from coming to the boil we have to act now. It’s Time, writes Mungo MacCallum.
ETS modelling: there’s no free lunch
The correct answer to the question “what happens if there’s no international agreement?” is, of course, that we’re stuffed, writes Bernard Keane.
ETS modelling heralds a green collar job boom
Even the “business as usual” scenario demonstrates the key point that there are substantial growth prospects in green industries, writes Bernard Keane.
Dismal logic: Garnaut at a glance
Ross Garnaut’s final report warns that Australia faces an even grimmer climate change future than previously estimated, writes Bernard Keane.
