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Mr Rudd and Climate Change Minister Penny Wong have capitulated to the vested interests of the greenhouse mafia.

Instead of giving Australia a robust emissions reduction scheme that will quickly drive down greenhouse pollution to the required levels, we have instead been presented with an astoundingly weak model that will do little for the climate.

An emissions trading scheme should make investment in fossil fuels unattractive and should trigger a shift to renewable energy and energy efficiency. The “softly-softly” model proposed by Climate Change Minister Penny Wong does neither.

Heavy on compensation and exemptions, the government’s Green Paper proposal sends the wrong message to Australian householders and businesses, telling them that it’s okay to continue to burn fossil fuels.

Climate and Energy campaigner Simon Roz said the plan was far from economically responsible because it would fail to deliver the required cuts in emissions.

“That means it will only be more expensive to take the necessary action on climate change down the track,” Mr Roz said.

“The economically responsible thing to do would be to adopt a Carbon Pollution Reduction Scheme that provides Australia with an affordable, clean renewable energy supply and phases out dirty coal-fired power.”

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Big polluters win

Under Minister Wong’s plan coal-fired energy generators will receive a "limited amount" of direct assistance at the beginning of the scheme, but this amount has not yet been defined.

Prime Minister Rudd and Minister Wong have opted for a proposal heavy on spin, but light on real action. Although Ms Wong spoke about the need to take strong action on climate change, the Green Paper will not deliver the emission reductions that she says are required.

The government’s proposal ignores many of the recommendations of their own climate change advisor Professor Ross Garnaut.

“By handing out 20 per cent of the permits to pollute for free, the proposed scheme will prop up dirty industries – such as coal-fired electricity generation, aluminium and cement – allowing them to maintain the status quo,” Mr Roz said.

The biggest emitters will be all but exempted from emissions trading at the start. They will be given free “permits to pollute” to cover 90 per cent of their emissions.

“Giving big emitters permits to cover 90 per cent of their emissions provides no real incentives for them to reduce their emissions and will result in nothing more than paper shuffling,” Mr Roz said.

Household compensation does not help long term affordability

The paper outlines several areas in which families would be compensated for higher costs in goods and services such as energy.

In addition to the cutting the fuel excise, the paper says that:

• Payments to carers, pensioners and seniors will be increased.
• Low-income earners would receive extra payments through the tax system.
• Family assistance payments would also be reviewed through the Budget yearly.
• Middle-income earners will also receive some assistance to help with cost of living increases.

Greenpeace believes the focus of compensation for householders should be on assisting them to reduce their energy use.

“That will assist with affordability in the long term rather than just as one-off,” Mr Roz said.

Carbon Capture and Storage is not Renewable Energy

Money set aside for development of ‘green’ energy, has been earmarked to go back into the coal industry to aid development of unproven carbon capture and storage (CCS) technology.

This money should be earmarked for the establishment of clean, renewable energy which are already available.

Climate Minister Penny Wong said that the Climate Change Action Fund would be established to “fund businesses to make the transition to a cleaner greener future and develop low emissions technology”.

Unfortunately, “low-emissions” refers to the development of so-called “clean coal”. If this proposal is accepted, the coal industry will maintain its stranglehold on the government, and once again, we will miss the opportunity to roll out clean, proven renewable energy across Australia.

Read our report on why carbon capture storage won't save the climate