Aus to cut greenhouse gas emissions five per cent by 2020

Melbourne, Dec 15 (PTI) Australian Prime Minister
Kevin Rudd said Monday the country will cut its greenhouse gas
emissions by 5 per cent by 2020 to help combat climate change.
Rudd, who unveiled Australia's 'Greenhouse' plan, said
the country launched the scheme with appropriate and
responsible targets that are broadly consistent with other
developed countries.
"The Government has set an absolute maximum cut to
emissions of 15 per cent by 2020 if no effective climate pact
was not established globally," the Greenhouse plan said.
"If no pact is signed, Australia will go with an
unconditional 5 per cent cut in emissions," it said.
"We are not going to make promises that cannot be
delivered," Rudd said.
"A fair and effective global agreement delivering deep
cuts in emissions ... would be in Australia's interests.
Achieving global commitment to emissions reductions of this
order appears unlikely in the next commitment period."
The Government has also heeded business concerns about
emissions trading, the main mechanism for reducing emissions
which will start in July 2010. Business fears have intensified
in the wake of the global financial crisis.
The scheme will now be much more generous to business.
Straight off the blocks, the scheme will hand over four
billion Australian dollars to the coal industry to compensate
it for efforts to tackle climate change.
The government had said that it was unlikely that the
world could forge a strong greenhouse agreement so that its
targets were "realistic".
More businesses will receive free pollution permits
than the Government first planned, and they will get more of
them. By 2020, almost half the permits in the system will be
given to businesses for free, the plan said.
Some households will also receive generous
compensation for the scheme, which the government says will
push up electricity and gas bills by six AUs dollars a week.
Electricity prices will rise by 18 per cent and gas prices by
12 per cent.
Pensioners, seniors, careers and people on the dole
will get an increase to their payments which are worth more
than the cost increases, according to the plan.
Other low-income households will be fully compensated
for the costs, partly through a small tax cut. Middle-income
households will also get compensation, which in most cases
will fully cover the costs of emissions trading.
While experts such as climate adviser Ross Garnaut
called for some of the revenue to be used to cut emissions,
almost all the revenue will be churned back to households and
businesses.
The scheme is expected to earn about USD 12 billion a
year and the government has promised that all the money will
go towards helping Australians adjust.
Of the 12 billion dollars, about 10 billion dollars
will go for compensation and free permits. Some 700 million
dollars will be spent on energy efficiency measures.
In terms of how the scheme will work, as expected,
petrol will be effectively excluded from the scheme for the
first three years, and agriculture for the first five years.
PTI