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Howard: I won't sacrifice economic growth to cut greenhouse gas emissions

October 15, 2007
From TheAge (Aust)

Howard still refuses to sign the Kyoto protocol citing that we'd be at an unfair disadvantage as China and other developing nations aren't included as part of it.
That is true but short-sighted and an excuse for inaction. Specifically:

• Kyoto Protocol is the legal basis for any international co-operation on climate change
  
• Developed countries should face their historical responsibility and their high per-capita emissions
  
• Australia has an 8% INCREASE over 1990 levels included in the Kyoto protocol. It is shameful we haven't even been able to stick to this
  
• These Developing countries were almost nothing (no disrepect!) back in 1996 when the Kyoto Protocol was drawn up. What was the argument back then?
  
• China and India have backed Kyoto and they are already meeting targets anyway!
  
• Bush didn't sign Kyoto and thus a real reason for Howard not to
  
• Howard is a luddite and lives in the past when polluting industries and coal in particular were king. The future is about efficiency and lean processes (minimal waste).
  

Prime Minister John Howard has dashed any hopes that he might end the government's Kyoto Protocol boycott, insisting he won't sacrifice economic growth to cut greenhouse gas emissions.

Mr Howard's first election campaign appearance on internet video site YouTube suggested the coalition would not be veering far from its existing climate change policy.

"The government will very shortly announce detailed plans on many issues including a climate change policy that balances our obligation to reduce greenhouse gas emissions with the need to keep our economy growing," he said.

The prime minister later reiterated his opposition to the Kyoto Protocol on economic grounds, but not necessarily its post-2012 successor.

"The reason I won't ratify the Kyoto treaty is: the existing Kyoto treaty doesn't cover countries like China, and we could be at a competitive disadvantage," he told Southern Cross Broadcasting.

"We'd be interested in ratifying a new international agreement that includes all of the major emitters because that would not put us at a competitive disadvantage."

Mr Howard's comment came after federal Environment Minister Malcolm Turnbull last week moved closer to accepting the Kyoto position by saying the government might sign an amended version for post-2012.

The independent Climate Institute argues that the necessary greenhouse gas cuts and a switch to clean energy can be made while sustaining economic growth.

"Government and independent groups such as ABARE and CSIRO show that strong economic growth is set to continue even if we substantially reduce emissions," chief executive John Connor said.

Federal Labor Leader Kevin Rudd says that ratifying the greenhouse blueprint would give Australia a greater say in climate change talks and help persuade China to commit on emissions cuts.

Mr Rudd said while the Kyoto treaty expires within five years, endorsing it would give the government a greater role in international climate change policy, starting at a Bali conference in December.

"If you haven't ratified Kyoto, you don't get to vote, that's the problem," he told Southern Cross.

"I want to be an international voice for Australia which is carving out the future arrangements."

Mr Rudd said China's argument for not accepting greenhouse targets had been because developed nations like Australia and the United States had refused to do so.

"Unless we in this country fix the China emissions problem with an international set of rules which bind both economies as well, then frankly our future is deeply compromised."

The Australian Greens have urged more federal investment in public transport as a way of tackling climate change.

Senator Kerry Nettle called on the commonwealth to ensure the states had the funding they needed to improve transport systems.

An environmental network gave both of the major parties low marks for their climate change policies, but put Labor ahead of the government.

Using nine criteria, The Big Switch gave the coalition a grade of 0.8 out of five and Labor 1.8.

National coordinator Tricia Phelan said Labor fell down by supporting the continued use of coal, while the coalition's response so far is "completely inadequate".

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China Plans US$265 Bln Renewables Spending by 2020

September 5, 2007
From Planet Ark

China is able to set targets yet have no immediate obligations under the Kyoto protocol (ofcourse they will have future targets they won't be able to meet if they don't start acting now). This is in difference to Australia and the USA who have refused to join Kyoto so they don't have to set targets but have aspirational goals.

BEIJING - China plans to invest 2 trillion yuan (US$265 billion) in renewable energy by 2020, most of it corporate cash, to wean itself off polluting coal as it aims for cleaner growth, a top energy planner said on Tuesday.

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Howard's Kyoto resistance could be costing billion

September 9, 2007
From

THE Howard Government's refusal to sign up to the Kyoto Protocol to reduce greenhouse gases is costing Australian businesses about $3.8 billion a year, a study has found.

The report by respected environmental consultant Cambiar said the country was missing out on economic activity because local businesses could not fully participate in the $37.5 billion global carbon market, which last year alone tripled in value.

"This is the first time this analysis has been done and what we have found was that a significant opportunity has been forgone because we are not participating fully in the Kyoto process," Justin Sherrard, one of the report's authors, told The Sunday Age.

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Monbiot: Blair is just a lot of hot air

March 5, 2007
From George Monbiot (will appear in The Guardian also).

George might complain about the British Government and their inbuilt (?) failures to reach their target reductions, however our Australian Government has set NO target reductions. They keep going on about "free market will lead the way" and commit us to nothing but a hatred of the Indians and Chinese because they are building a Coal fired power station every week. The response of the Indians and the Chinese is that we in the West - USA, Europe and Australia, have got the whole world into the Global Warming mess we are in and we should lead the way out. (John) Howard (Australian PM) asks what the point in us killing our coal industry when we release nothing like the pollution that China (or the USA for that matter as the world's number one polluter) does. The point is that we would be taking the lead. One who leads is a leader. One who doesn't is a follower. When it comes time for the Australian Federal election later this year, I know I want to have a leader up at the helm.

And what about the Free Market.

I don't believe the free market can achieve what needs to be done, alone and without legislation and regulations (which piss people off and they end up voting the current party out). It isn't in a capitalist enterprise's interests to do so. Take this example.

On this island, there is one remaining stand of 100 hectares of forest made up of old growth (original) trees. Due to the rarity of these, the price for them felled is now ten times what it was ten years ago when there was a million hectares. Unfelled and left standing it has little economic value. Humans are so stupid that they will keep their logging practices up. Current Economics as was identified by Richard (?) Stern in the Stern report, does not take into account future generations. And anyway, if my suggestion was not the case, then why are so many rare animals hunted to extinction, and why have we not stopped some significant practices such as the logging of old growth forests? Free market suggests people within the market will make the correct choices. I argue that a capitalist market says that the only choices are the ones that make someone more money. We need to change our market - to be driven by things other than money. What about love? That is what religion is meant to be about. Its ironic then that one country with one of the largest installed religious bases is the USA. The USA is also the king of capitalism to the point where their economy is more important than anything else in the world, such that they will start a war in order to protect that system (war is great for business). Capitalism is greater than love (in eyes of zealot capitalists).

What about this one which is a real life situation. My partner channel surfs so we get inflicted by the ads which seem to occupy more and more time these days. I record what I want to watch so can skip over them with only a small amount of crap transferring to my psyche. Car ads, f@cking car ads. You would think in a world so consumed by the threat of climate change that one thing we would do is making major changes to the cars we well. But oh no, under our capitalist system, they are still manufacturing BIG cars and they are still selling them. So of course they are still advertising them. Am I crazy or is the world frickin' organised in the most stupid of ways?

I'm off the track a bit here. Over to George Monbiot ...

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Warming towards a new Kyoto

February 17 2007
From The Herald (UK)

The decision could not have come at a better time. On the day scientists said carbon dioxide levels had reached a new record high, world leaders have laid plans for a new global agreement on climate change to succeed the Kyoto protocol.

After a two-day meeting in Washington, lawmakers from some 20 nations, including the US, agreed a long-term goal to stabilise concentrations of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere.

But their target range - 450-550 parts per million - was described as "catastrophic" by environmental groups, because the resulting temperature rise of 2-4C would be enough to melt the polar ice sheets and leave two billion more people without water.

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