According to John Breusch, Prime Minister John Howard will seize on Queensland Premier Peter Beattie’s concerns about emissions trading as he moves to undermine the Labor premiers’ efforts to develop a national carbon market, reported The Australian Financial Review (17/7/2006, p.8).
Howard wants emission trading to wait for clean coal tech: Because of concerns about the effect of higher carbon prices on Australia’s fossil fuel-dependent economy, the Howard government argues that emissions trading should be introduced only when so-called clean coal technologies, which are still in the development phase, are ready to come to market.
Beattie agrees on waiting to start carbon trading: Beattie echoed these concerns in the lead-up to Friday’s Council of Australian Governments meeting. "Queensland has invested heavily in developing this technology and work on providing solutions is under way," he said. "Once we reach a satisfactory stage in producing clean coal technology we can move progressively into a carbon trading scheme."
Nuclear Taskforce must examine carbon price signal: A number of members of Howard’s taskforce looking into nuclear power have also said their inquiry must include an examination of a carbon price signal given that nuclear would be a far more expensive option than conventional coal-fired power stations.
Howard stresses problems of EU carbon market: But in his speech to a Committee for Economic Development of Australia function today, Howard will highlight the problems of Europe’s carbon market since it began operation last year. Under the European scheme, businesses in high-emissions industries received "permits to pollute" which could be bought and sold.
EU prices collapsed from bad pollution estimates: At first, the prices of these permits shot up, heartening advocates of the scheme. But when it was revealed recently that governments had initially overestimated how much businesses were polluting, the price of carbon collapsed.
The Australian Financial Review, 17/7/2006, p. 8
Source: Erisk Net