Climate commitments - We cannot afford not to

THERE was an air of inevitability about yesterday’s warning from the Department of Finance about the real cost of our commitment to confronting climate change.

The department warned that there are huge cost issues involved in meeting our commitments to reducing carbon emissions and our Kyoto targets.

Transport, housing and agriculture are the areas that will face the greatest challenges. This warning cannot have been unexpected and only puts flesh on what we already knew.

We will have to make painful changes to the way we live and do business. It would be wonderful if we did not have to but the unavoidable reality is that we cannot afford not to.