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Australia excluding farms from emission scheme-minister

14 Nov 2009 22:43:29 GMT
Source: Reuters

SYDNEY, Nov 15 (Reuters) - Australia's government has agreed to exclude agriculture from its emissions trading scheme in a bid to get the scheme throught parliament, a minister said on Sunday.

The much-watched scheme has been held up in the upper house Senate where the Labour government does not have a majority. The decision to exclude agriculture is a major concession to the conservative opposition.

Speaking on national television, Finance Minister Lindsay Tanner said the government had agreed to the conservative coalition's demand on this point.

"We're prepared to accede to the coalition's request on this front," Tanner told Channel Ten, adding that this did not yet mean a deal had been struck.

The government had planned to include agriculture in the scheme from 2015.

With parliament due to resume on Monday, pressure is on to get the scheme through before a U.N. climate change conference in Copenhagen next month.

Australian Greens leader Bob Brown, whose party holds several key Senate seats, said the concession would mean the scheme presented at Copenhagen would be a "prescription for failure".

Australia, the world's biggest coal exporter, produces about 1.5 percent of global emissions and is one of the world's highest per capita emitters of greenhouse gases.

(Sydney Newsroom +612 6273 2730)

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