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Environmental News - Opinion from the Field: Emissions Trading Scheme

Over the past weeks, a lot of media attention has been given to the federal government's emissions trading scheme as proposed in its Carbon Pollution Reduction Scheme as outlined in the White Paper released on 15 December last year. Most notably, a Senate inquiry into the scheme was shut down as green groups and Opposition leaders raised questions to the effectiveness of the scheme especially on how it dealt with voluntary carbon reductions, especially by households and individuals.

Green Pages asked a number of industry experts to put forward their thoughts on the scheme. In this instalment, Dr Chris Reidy, Research Director at the Institute for Sustainable Futures at the University of Technology gives us his thoughts on the CPRS as it stands.

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Chris Reidy: Chris Reidy: Research Director at the Institute for Sustainable Futures UTS

In its current form, the Rudd Government's CPRS removes all incentive for households, most businesses and even State and local governments to voluntarily reduce their emissions. Under the Scheme, a household that buys Green Power, installs solar hot water or invests in energy-efficient appliances does nothing to reduce Australia's total greenhouse gas emissions. Any emissions saved by households allow polluting industries to do less to meet their obligations. And those obligations are already far too weak - an emission reduction of 5 to 15% by 2020 falls well short of what climate scientists are demanding.

Ordinary Australians are entitled to feel angry and confused by this situation. For many years, governments of all persuasions have asked people to take responsibility for their own carbon footprint and do whatever they can to save energy and reduce emissions. Now, the Rudd Government is saying that individual action is worth nothing. This is a slap in the face to those who have done the right thing, like the 850,000 Green Power customers in Australia.

The CPRS can be fixed. First, it needs a target of at least a 25% emission reduction by 2020. Second, it needs a mechanism to separately account for voluntary emission abatement so that the actions of households and organisations can truly make a difference to climate change.

Dr Chris Riedy is a Research Director at the Institute for Sustainable Futures, University of Technology, Sydney

What are your thoughts on the Emissions Trading Scheme? Are there better alternatives? Leave your comments on the Green Pages Blog.

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