Minister Wong's commitments welcome but Govt must stabilise emissions by 2010
07 Feb 2008
WWF has welcomed commitments made today by the Minister for Climate Change and Water, Penny Wong, during a speech to the Australian Industry Group that the Australian Government would set medium-term greenhouse gas emission reduction targets and measures to promote energy efficiency.
"The Australian Government's plan to reduce Australia's greenhouse gas emissions set out in Minister Penny Wong's speech today suggests that the Government genuinely intends to tackle climate change," said WWF-Australia's Program Leader for Development and Climate Change, Paul Toni.
"Particularly welcome is the Government's commitment to a cap-and-trade scheme with medium-term, which is usually taken to mean 2020, emission reduction targets and measures to promote energy efficiency and low emission technology."
However, if the Government wishes Australia to play a leading role in shaping global solutions to climate change then it should aim stabilise and then start to reduce Australian emissions by about 2010, the global conservation organisation said.
This could be achieved by ending land clearing, which presently contributes about 6-10 per cent of emissions, and the rapid deployment of large-scale energy efficiency measures and programs.
WWF accepts that the proposed scheme will have to address the competitive challenges faced by emission-intensive, trade-exposed industries. However these industries emit about 15 per cent of all Australian emissions.
"As a consequence, protecting emission-intensive, trade-exposed industries poses the greatest threat to the effectiveness of the emissions trading scheme. Furthermore, when the 15 per cent of emissions from these industries is combined with agricultural emissions, about 45 per cent of national emissions are unlikely to be reduced by the emissions trading scheme in the near future," Mr Toni said.
"Measures to protect the aluminium, iron and steel and other emission-intensive, trade-exposed industries necessarily mean that emissions from those industries will continue for some time at a significant level. This means that the rest of the community must bear a disproportionate share of the burden of reducing Australian emissions.
"It is imperative that the effectiveness of the scheme as a whole is not undermined simply because the Government wishes to protect emission-intensive, trade-exposed industries and is unwilling to transfer the burden of doing so to the wider community," Mr Toni said.
"It is also critical that the agricultural sector be brought within the emission reduction system as soon as possible".
For more information
Paul Toni, WWF-Australia Program Leader for Development and Climate Change, 0410 086 986
