Australia’s Carbon Cap-and-Trade Climb-Down

Posted on 18. Aug, 2009 by Ross in Climate Change, Government Policy, Oceania

After failing to secure flagship cap-and-trade legislation in the Senate, the Australian Government is being forced to splinter its’ environmental draft laws in order to get them passed individually.

The government is putting forward part of last week’s defeated bill - a plan for 20% of Australia’s energy to come from renewable sources by 2020 - for voting on again next week. The plan has broad support across all major parties and should be passed easily.

That leaves Climate Change Minister Penny Wong the unenviable task of pushing through the cap-and-trade legislation without a sweetener prior to 2010. Whilst the Green party might be swayed (they opposed the legislation for being too unambitious), the Conservative opposition who are the majority in the Australian Senate will remain staunchly opposed, despite the government having been strongly backed in the last election on the back of their determination to act responsibly on environmental issues.

The sympathy of the Australian electorate is likely to grow. Continually worsening annual droughts have led most of the country to believe that Australia is the first of the world’s developed nations to be experiencing the direct effects of climate change. Some of the latest research done by local climate researchers is being presented at the 10th Annual Congress of Ecology, including studies showing that snowfall in the Snowy Mountains has decreased 30-40% over the last 50 years, and that 80% of Queensland’s rainforest animals will become critically endangered due to climate change.

The public’s growing acceptance of climate change is also accompanied by an unenviable sense of culpability: Australia is the world’s biggest coal exporter, and 80% of the nation’s electricity is generated by coal-fired power stations.

However, the Conservatives are presenting their own watered-down version of the plans, leading to expectations of a compromise. Meanwhile, Exxon have muddied the waters by telling Bloomberg News that a direct carbon tax would be a more effective tool to effect reductions in carbon dioxide emissions. However, carbon taxes are more politically risky than cap-and-trade with electorates, leaving Exxon’s statement looking more like posturing rather than genuine engagement in the debate.

Image by stage88 @ Flickr