Carbon to cost us sooner or later

The Australian government has traditionally enjoyed good support from many industry sectors – a notable exception being the renewable energy industry – for its climate stance.

But there is growing concern that the eight-year argument waged over Kyoto has clouded the debate over the need for Australia to adapt its domestic policies to a carbon-restrained world – particularly as many of its major trading partners prepare to do so.

The Australian Industry Greenhouse Network, which represents carbon-intensive industries such as electricity, petroleum, aluminium and coal, supports the Government’s policy of developing clean technology to reduce greenhouse emissions, most specifically through the Asia Pacific partnership which meets for the first time next month.

The network also maintains that the Government’s resistance to the protocol, which sets binding emission reduction targets for developed countries but allows them to mitigate the cost through mechanisms such as carbon trading, has saved the Australian economy from certain decline.

The Australian