The Coalition this week gave bipartisan support to the Rudd Government’s proposed target of between 5 and 25 per cent of 2000 levels by 2020 (equivalent to between 4 and 24 per cent of 1990 levels) but said it would not pass emissions trading laws to meet the targets until after the Copenhagen talks.
New Zealand is reviewing its emissions trading laws and aims to align them with the scheme that emerges in Australia. Canada, which has committed to reduce emissions by 20 per cent by 2020, has put its emissions trading laws on hold until the rapidly-evolving US scheme is finalised. In the US the Waxman-Markey bill is likely to be debated in the House of Representatives in August. The scheme will implement President Barack Obama’s emissions reduction targets, which are equivalent to between 0 and 15per cent cuts on 1990 levels by 2020.
Progress on the legislation is much faster than many observers had believed possible, but few believe the bills will have passed the Senate before Copenhagen.
Japan – which took on a tough emissions reduction target under the Kyoto Protocol – has said it will announce its new 2020 targets next month. Environment Minister Tetsuo Saito said this week it would be at least 15 per cent of 1990 levels. The Japanese appear to be relying mainly on regulatory measures to achieve the goal.
South Korea has said it will announce targets later in the year but its recent stimulus package centred on a green new deal that spent $US36 billion ($45 billion) on clean energy and public transport.
Promises from developing countries have been largely regulatory and measured in different ways.
China has promised to reduce energy consumption by 20 per cent below 2005 levels by next year and has ambitious targets for renewable energy use. China already has twice the installed renewable energy capacity as the US.
India has taken a tough line on developed countries proving their bona fides first, but has promised to limit the growth in its per capita emissions to less than the growth in developed nations. Indonesia has pledged to reduce emissions from its energy sector to 17 per cent less than they were projected to be in 2025.