Reuters AlertNet Lite - Australia plans carbon scheme counting U.S., China

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Australia plans carbon scheme counting U.S., China

19 May 2007 04:37:22 GMT
Source: Reuters

CANBERRA, May 19 (Reuters) - Australia is planning a regional carbon emissions trading scheme that would count China and the United States, and hopes for backing at a September meeting of Asia-Pacific leaders, local media said on Saturday.

As host of this year's APEC summit in Sydney, to be attended by U.S. President George W. Bush, Australia's Prime Minister John Howard was backing a "Sydney declaration" on a scheme placing a price on carbon emissions.

APEC economies, including China, Russia, the United States and Japan, are responsible for 60 per cent of global energy consumption.

The scheme would build on the six-nation Asia-Pacific Partnership on Clean Development and Climate, counting Australia, China, the United States, Japan, South Korea and India, the Weekend Australian newspaper said.

Australia, like close ally the United States, refuses to sign the Kyoto Protocol setting caps on Greenhouse Gas emissions, and has called for a global scheme to replace "Old Kyoto".

But with the conservative Howard facing re-election late in the year, and polls showing a majority of Australians want more action to combat global warming, Howard is under pressure to change climate course and reverse months of sliding popularity.

Howard is expecting a carbon trading report from a government taskforce at the end of the month. Its findings will feed into the agenda for the APEC summit, which will bring together the leaders of 21 countries over three days in Sydney.

The taskforce will recommend a trading scheme indirectly raising the price of carbon fuels, such as the thermal coal on which a large slice of Australia's economy relies, but not set a formal target for Greenhouse Gas reductions, the newspaper said.

A Sydney declaration would be the first sign the United States considering an international emissions trading scheme. It would also help Howard boost his climate credentials for worried voters ahead of an election many analysts expect in November.

The conservative Howard has always refused to sign Kyoto, arguing it would unfairly harm Australia's energy-export reliant economy, while forcing no concurrent emission reductions from developing countries like China and India.

Howard wrote to APEC leaders in March putting climate change on the Sydney agenda and highlighting the AP6 philosophy of "practical" measures to fight climate change, including clean coal and solar technology, without harming developing economies.

The government expected other regional countries would eventually become involved in the new emissions trading scheme, including some European nations, the Weekend Australian said.

Australia's opposition environment spokesman, former rock star Peter Garrett, said it was a disgrace Australia had not ratified Kyoto or set up a national emissions trading scheme.

"For Australians and future generations of Australian who want to know what kind of world and country they are going to inhabit, this will be an election of a lifetime," he told local television.

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Last updated:Sat May 19 04:39:21 2007