THE Rudd Government is about to announce a package of amendments to its own proposed emissions trading scheme designed to soften its effects during the recession and win Senate support from the Coalition.

It is also understood to include the concession that the government will consider a tougher emissions reduction target of 25 per cent of 2000 levels by 2020, in the unlikely event of a global agreement designed to limit the concentration of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere at 450 parts per million. Otherwise the government’s previously announced target range of 5 to 15 per cent would apply.

The amendments, signed off by the Cabinet subcommittee on climate change this morning, and due to be announced by Prime Minister Kevin Rudd at a press conference after midday, are designed to win support from Malcolm Turnbull’s opposition in the Senate and appease mounting industry concern about the costs of the scheme during the global recession.

The Australian Greens yesterday wrote to Mr Rudd with their “bottom line” for Senate support for the scheme, which is that the government’s “unconditional” emissions reduction cut should be 25 per cent, rather than 5 per cent, and that the government should consider cuts as high as 40 per cent in the event of a tough international deal at the Copenhagen talks in December.