BY JIM GREEN
The federal Coalition government has taken a number of decisions to reassure big business that measures adopted to reduce greenhouse gas emissions will have little or no impact.
Federal minister for industry, science and resources Nick Minchin outlined "specific commitments" to industry in a September 6 press release. They were:
- that a mandatory domestic greenhouse gas emissions trading scheme will not be introduced "prematurely";
- that the government "will involve industry from the inception through to the implementation phase of greenhouse gas abatement policies and strategies that impact on the industry";
- that the government will work internationally "to get Australia the best possible greenhouse position";
- that the government will assist in "minimising the burden of greenhouse measures on business through cost-effective actions"; and
- that the government will not "discriminate against particular projects or regions in greenhouse policies and programs".
"What we are saying to industry is that in any decisions we make on greenhouse, we will work to maintain their international competitiveness. This is a framework for the government's greenhouse policy processes. These are all common sense measures that will allow Australian industry to grow and meet our Kyoto commitments. It's good news for industry, which has warmly welcomed the government's commitments", Minchin said.
The government's "specific commitments" are noticeably lacking in specifics. Canberra's primary aim is simply to reassure business interests that measures to curb escalating greenhouse gas emissions will have little or no impact on their activities.
In addition to their orchestrated campaign to avoid being forced to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, big business is also squabbling over a $400 million corporate welfare package, known as the Greenhouse Gas Abatement Program, which the government says is "aimed at delivering maximum abatement of gases per dollar investment".
The government has said that a carbon trading regime will not be introduced until Australia ratifies the Kyoto Protocol, the Kyoto Protocol comes into force which requires at least 55 states ratifying the treaty (so far only 23 have done so — all developing countries; no industrialised country has ratified it), and an established international emissions trading scheme is in place.
The decision on carbon trading was prompted by a report to the Victorian government by Allen Consulting. The report warned that a domestic emissions trading scheme could cause massive reductions in economic growth, slash thousands of jobs and lead to the relocation offshore of major industries such as aluminium processing.
However, the impact of a carbon trading regime would depend on how it works. An equally likely scenario to that predicted by Allen Consulting is a carbon trading regime which has little or no impact on greenhouse emissions and involves nothing more than paper-shuffling.
Delegates from 150 countries will meet in France from September 11-15 in a final round of negotiations before a United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change meeting in the Netherlands in November. The November meeting is supposed to finalise rules for implementing the Kyoto Protocol, which calls for developed countries to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by an average of 5% below 1990 levels during the period 2008-2012.
Minchin asserts that Australia will meet the target it agreed to in Kyoto — an 8% increase on 1990 figures by 2008-2012. However, national greenhouse gas inventory figures show Australian emissions were 16.9% above 1990 levels in 1998.
While the Australian government favours procrastination at home, it is working hard in international fora to influence the outcomes of the November conference in the Netherlands. The government is lobbying for a range of loopholes.
[Visit Jim Green's web site at <http://www.geocities.com/jimgreen3>.]