“AUSTRALIA will more than play its part to address climate change.” This was the surprising on Tuesday from Australian prime minister John Howard, who has shunned international carbon reduction schemes such as the Kyoto protocol. Now here’s the “but”: Australia will do it “in a practical and balanced way in full knowledge of the economic consequences for this nation”, Howard said.
The A$627 million (US$548 million) climate-change package amounts to a national “cap and trade” greenhouse gas emissions scheme. However, Howard has not revealed what the “cap” – the emissions target – will be, nor has he put a price on carbon emissions, notes Erwin Jackson, of the Climate Institute of Australia, an…
