Political move or reality check: the delay of the emissions trading scheme in Australia

Posted by Anabel

May 5, 2009

Well, for some it is the biggest reversal in Australian politics in the past years, for others it is just a fact of reality. The Australian Federal government has yesterday decided to delay the emission trading scheme by one year to the 1st of July 2011. This is an important change as it is now moved past the next Federal election here Down Under.

Why am I torn between the feeling of disappointment and relief?

Climate Change Down Under

On the one hand there was my green mind having been carefully restored after years of neglecting ‘green issues’ in this country. With the Rudd government came a sense of urgency that he himself and his ministers took green issues seriously. At the end of the day, I see it as our obligation to look after our planet in a way that our children and their kids can still live in a environment known to us in our youth.

Also I am disappointed about the concessions that Rudd & Co. made to some bigger polluters. Compensation will come at a higher rate than initially planned and the price for a tonne of carbon has been decreased substantially.

But then there are the practical issues - to tell you the truth, nobody so far was really happy with the existing proposal of tackling climate change. And from a business point of view, there were still a big number of question marks behind the initial proposal, including a big question about how the current and ongoing financial crisis would impact on businesses capability to finance these issues.

As far as I understand, the big business groups have now raised support for the changes announced yesterday, most of them pledging for more time to get things right. If there is any good news in this delay, this is the one: let us get things right for businesses and for our environment.

More discussions on this topic can be found in our group Renewable Energy and Sustainable Living.

Anabel

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