Australia spurns global warming initiative

Australian Prime Minister John Howard’s conservative government today refused to support a plan by state leaders to introduce caps on carbon dioxide emissions, saying it would devastate the economy.

Australia is one of few industrialised countries that has refused to sign the Kyoto protocol on global warming, which sets targets for the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions.

Howard’s government has repeatedly said the 1997 agreement would unfairly hamper Australia’s economy, which is heavily dependent on exporting coal and other carbon-rich energy sources.

But the leaders of Australia’s six states and two territories – all members of the Labour party that is in opposition nationally – have sought to bypass the government’s refusal to sign Kyoto by introducing their own plan to reduce carbon dioxide emissions.

The so-called “cap and trade” plan gives companies a maximum emissions target for three polluting gases – carbon dioxide, methane and nitrous oxide - and would result in large fines to those that exceed their caps.

The plan, detailed in a paper released today, would also allow low-polluting companies to trade their remaining carbon emissions credits for money or credit.

Without the federal government’s support, the plan will be difficult to enforce.

South Australia state Premier Mike Rann said the regional leaders were forced to act because the federal government was not properly addressing the issue of global warming.

“Ultimately this is a failure of national leadership,” Rann told Australian Broadcasting Corporation radio. “Ultimately someone’s got to do it. The stakes are too high.”

Australia’s federal Resources Minister Ian Macfarlane dismissed the scheme, saying it would further increase Australia’s burgeoning energy costs.

“That sort of impact on the economy would be devastating,” Macfarlane told the ABC.

He said the government was investing in other methods of greenhouse gas reduction, including an experimental technology that would allow carbon dioxide emissions to captured and pumped underground for storage.