28
November 2008 - The Rudd Government's Carbon
Pollution Reduction Scheme (CPRS) White
Paper and medium term target range for reducing
carbon pollution will be released on Monday
15 December 2008.
"The global financial
situation has heightened the importance
of providing business certainty on the Carbon
Pollution Reduction Scheme," Minister
for Climate Change and Water, Senator Penny
Wong, said.
"The Rudd Government
has heard the calls for certainty from business
leaders and that is why we are proceeding
to finalise scheme design and get on with
the job of putting the scheme in place."
The White Paper outlining
the final design of the scheme and medium
term target range will be released following
Senator Wong's return from the United Nations
Climate Change Conference in Poznan, Poland.
Draft legislation incorporating
the policy approach outlined in the White
Paper will be released in early 2009.
Senator Wong said calls
from the Opposition to delay the White Paper
and commencement of the CPRS were undermining
business certainty and were out of step
with the Australian community.
"The Opposition
is looking for any excuse to delay action
on climate change, but Australians understand
that the longer we wait, the more it will
cost us," Senator Wong said.
"The Leader of
the Opposition says he understands the importance
of business certainty and yet he is allowing
uncertainty to be fuelled by these repeated
calls for delay.
"Through the CPRS,
the Government is positioning the Australian
economy to take advantage of the opportunities
that will arise as the world moves to reduce
emissions."
Senator Wong confirmed
that the Government would take account of
international developments in determining
the path Australia takes to reduce carbon
pollution.
"When we set the
pathway for reducing carbon pollution under
the CPRS, we will take into account the
progress of global climate change negotiations,
including the Copenhagen conference in December
2009," Senator Wong said.
Carbon Pollution Reduction
Scheme White Paper and medium-term target
range for reducing Australia’s carbon pollution
Ministerial Statement
- 1 December 2008 - The Australian people
made it clear at the last election that
they want our Government to take action
on climate change.
Australians want the
Government to deal with this issue, so our
children and grandchildren are not punished
for our failure to take responsible action
now.
The Government’s commitment
to acting on climate change was evident
with its first official act – ratifying
the Kyoto Protocol. And climate change has
remained a top priority since, through the
Government’s comprehensive approach to reducing
Australia’s emissions, adapting to the climate
change we cannot avoid and helping to shape
a global solution.
This reflects Australia’s
strong national interest in an effective
global response to climate change, as well
as the Government’s commitment to ensure
Australia plays its full, fair and constructive
part in building a global response.
As Professor Garnaut
demonstrated through his review, Australia
is highly vulnerable to the effects of climate
change – more so than any other developed
country. As one of the hottest and driest
continents on earth, Australia’s economy
and environment will be one of the hardest
and fastest hit by climate change if we
don’t act decisively.
It is true that the
global financial crisis is having a substantial
impact around the world and here at home,
but this will not divert the Government
from the task of building a low-pollution
economy for Australia's future.
There will never be
an easy time to deal with climate change.
But transitioning to
a low-pollution economy is vital to Australia’s
long term economic prosperity.
While we work around
the clock to buffer our country against
the full force of the global economic crisis,
our Government understands the importance
of continuing to lay the groundwork for
the future economy.
The global financial
crisis makes it more, not less, important
that we tackle the big economic challenges.
In July this year, the
Rudd Government released the Carbon Pollution
Reduction Scheme (CPRS) Green Paper, outlining
the Government’s preferred positions on
emissions trading and the support proposed
to help households and businesses adjust
to this economic transformation.
The Green Paper was
informed by a comprehensive first phase
of consultation with the community and business.
In October, the Government
launched ‘Australia’s Low Pollution Future
– The Economics of Climate Change Mitigation’.
This comprehensive report contains Treasury's
detailed modelling of the costs and opportunities
of acting decisively to meet the challenge
of climate change.
The report contains
the most complex, comprehensive and rigorous
analysis of its kind ever undertaken in
Australia.
The Treasury's modelling
demonstrates that early global action is
less expensive than later action; that a
market-based approach allows robust economic
growth into the future even as emissions
fall; and that many of Australia's industries
will maintain or improve their competitiveness
as the world moves to reduce carbon pollution.
In the months since
the release of the Green Paper, I, my office
and the Department of Climate Change have
been engaged in a second phase of extensive
consultation with business and the community
on the Carbon Pollution Reduction Scheme.
The Government has received
over 1000 submissions, all of which are
being carefully considered in the formulation
of the White Paper.
The Government has held
workshops on the Carbon Pollution Reduction
Scheme across Australia – in every capital
city and in a number of regional locations.
We are very conscious
of the need to deliver an economically responsible
Carbon Pollution Reduction Scheme, which
is why we are going through such an extensive
process.
Throughout this year,
Australia has continued to play an active
and constructive role in negotiations for
a global agreement on climate change.
The Government has advocated
global action on climate change in key multilateral
and bilateral meetings, including the Major
Economies Meeting Leaders’ Summit held at
this year’s G8 meeting in Japan. We have
used these meetings to emphasise the continued
importance of forging a global solution
to this global problem.
The Prime Minister signed
the Forest Carbon Partnerships with President
Yudhoyono of Indonesia and Prime Minister
Somare of Papua New Guinea to take forward
our collaboration on reducing emissions
from deforestation – a critical issue, given
emissions from deforestation and forest
degradation account for around 20% of emissions
globally.
In November Australia
hosted the Australia-Indonesia Ministerial
Forum where the two countries released a
Roadmap for Access to International Carbon
Markets designed to assist Indonesia access
international forest carbon markets. Australia
and Indonesia also agreed to develop a second
demonstration activity in Indonesia to help
showcase in a practical way how emissions
from deforestation and forest degradation
can be reduced.
In November, I also
hosted the inaugural Australia-China Ministerial
Dialogue on Climate Change. This followed
the April 2008 agreement between the Governments
of Australia and the People's Republic of
China to establish annual policy dialogues
at a ministerial level.
During the meeting,
our two countries agreed to build on our
co-operation on clean energy and clean technologies.
China agreed to support efforts under Australia's
$100 million Global Carbon Capture and Storage
(CCS) Institute and recognised that it was
an important vehicle to accelerate global
demonstration of CSS technology at a commercial
scale.
Australia has participated
actively in negotiations throughout the
year, including through making public submissions
on priority topics. Most recently Australia
submitted a substantial set of 13 submissions
on key issues for the Poznan negotiations.
The Government will
release its CPRS White Paper and medium
term target range for reducing carbon pollution
on Monday 15 December.
We’ve been very clear
throughout the year that we would release
the White Paper and medium-term target range
in December.
Our priority is to provide
business and the Australian community with
certainty on the design of the CPRS and
target range in December – as we always
said we would do.
The 15 December release
date allows me to represent Australia at
the Poznan climate change negotiations,
while also delivering on our commitment
to release the White Paper and medium-term
target range by the end of the year.
We have an extensive
internal decision making process on the
CPRS currently underway. We are also continuing
with a comprehensive stakeholder consultation
process.
One key factor which
has become clear during our consultations,
is that business certainty would be significantly
improved if the design of the scheme was
released concurrently with the medium-term
target range.
We are taking a measured
and responsible approach to the CPRS and
setting the path to reduce carbon pollution.
This is a major economic reform and we must
get it right.
Australia will continue
to play an active and constructive role
in negotiations at Poznan. As the UN has
said, negotiators will use Poznan to take
stock of the progress made so far and map
out what needs to be done to give us the
best chance possible of reaching an agreement
at the end of 2009.
Poznan is the mid point
in the international negotiations which
started last year in Bali, building up to
the UN Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen
in December 2009. The release of the White
Paper in December will position Australia
well to continue to play our full part in
efforts to secure that global solution in
2009.
Australia will also
encourage other advanced economies to release
comparable targets as soon as possible.
In the interests of
securing our future economic prosperity,
the Government will continue efforts to
shape a global solution and take responsible
action at home through the CPRS.
Next year, legislation
on the CPRS will be debated in both Houses
of Parliament. During this debate, it is
hoped all Members and Senators will take
a responsible approach to dealing with the
great challenge of climate change.
