CANBERRA (Reuters) - Australia's Greens called for a quick parliamentary vote to defeat government plans for carbon trading on Monday, a move that could make the issue a trigger for an early general election.

The carbon-trade plan is one of Prime Minister Kevin Rudd's key reforms and a central plank of Australia's efforts to fight global warming, but the government is struggling to find the seven extra votes it needs in parliament's upper house Senate.

"We want to see this 'agreement to fail' rejected and get Australia moving with real action," Greens Senator Christine Milne told reporters.

Australia's left-of-center government wants to start carbon trading in July 2011, and has promised to cut greenhouse emissions by up to 25 percent on 2000 levels if global climate talks agree on deep cuts.

But the plan faces a major roadblock in the Senate. If the conservative opposition and minor parties reject the laws twice in the upper house, Rudd could call an early election.

The Greens oppose the current plan and want the government to offer deeper emissions cuts to around 40 percent of 1990 levels, saying the 25 percent maximum target should be the starting point for the climate talks in Copenhagen in December.

The opposition Liberal and National parties, who are struggling for support in opinion polls, remain deeply divided over carbon trading but are wary of giving the Labor government an excuse to call an early election.

Liberal leader Malcolm Turnbull may soon announce support for the 25 percent emissions target, media reports said, but urge a delay on voting on the carbon trade laws until 2010.

That would give the Liberal and National parties more time to come up with a united position on carbon trading, and would prevent the laws from being used as an election trigger.

The next election is due in the second half of 2010 and Rudd would need the carbon-trade package rejected twice by early 2010, with a three-month interval between votes, for the scheme to qualify as an early election trigger.

The government introduced a package of nine carbon-trade bills on May 14, and wants them passed by July this year.

Milne said Turnbull's plan was designed to shore up his leadership and avoid further opposition climate policy divisions, and said the Greens were not concerned about an early election.

"There is no more important issue facing Australia, facing the planet, than climate change," she said.

Rudd, first elected to office in November 2007, has raised the possibility of an early election if the opposition parties block his agenda, although he also said he intends to run his full three-year term.

Australia's carbon trading scheme aims to be the world's broadest, covering 75 percent of emissions from 1,000 of the country's biggest polluters.

Australia, the world's biggest coal exporter, accounts for 1.5 percent of global emissions but is one of the highest per-capita emitters due to a reliance on coal for 80 percent of its electricity.

(By James Grubel; Editing by Alex Richardson)

Source: UK Reuters

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Tags: Australia , carbon emissions , climate change

COPENHAGEN (Reuters) - Industry should play its part in the fight against climate change by persuading governments to aid carbon cuts rather than lobbying against them, the U.N. Secretary-General told a business conference on Sunday.

Business leaders met in Denmark to try to unite behind a common call for long-term climate policies, ahead of a U.N. conference in December meant to forge a new climate treaty to replace the Kyoto Protocol.

"For those who are directly or implicitly lobbying against climate action I have a clear message: your ideas are out of date and you are running out of time," U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon told a meeting of more than 500 business leaders.

"The smart money is on the green economy," he said. "Leaders sometimes are weak because they are short-sighted to get the votes," he added, urging businesses to lobby for carbon cuts.

Danish Environment, Climate and Energy Minister Connie Hedegaard, who hosts the U.N.-led December conference, said Denmark's exports of wind power technologies were proof that fighting climate change could be lucrative.

"That's the message to businesses here: put pressure on governments, that this is not just about idealism," she said.

The May 24-26 World Business Summit on Climate Change brings together top executives from energy and technology companies and political leaders.

Ban, in an interview with Reuters, also said that a draft U.S. climate bill, which aims to cut U.S. greenhouse gases by 17 percent below 2005 levels by 2020, did not go far enough.

Asked if he was urging Washington to do more, the U.N. chief replied: "That's what I have been doing and will continue to do."

CAUTIOUS OPTIMISM

Fossil fuel industries, such as oil and coal, may lose out from measures to boost low-carbon alternatives and want time and clear policies, for example on carbon prices, to invest. Other companies want to know what technologies to choose.

"We need clear direction and long-term leadership," said Philippe Joubert, president of Alstom Power, the electricity generation arm of the global French engineering firm Alstom SA which makes components for coal, gas and renewable energy power plants.

The aviation industry wanted a global approach to fighting climate change, said the head of the International Air Transport Association, Giovanni Bisignani. Businesses want global steps, so that polluting rivals elsewhere don't get an easier ride.

Environment experts and lobbyists argue that "green" spending to create jobs can help re-build leaner economies run on wind and solar power, helping to avoid a worse climate crisis.

"The climate crisis, economic crisis and energy security concerns will begin to unravel if we start a shift away from expensive, vulnerable and polluting carbon-based fuels," former U.S. vice-president and campaigner Al Gore told the conference.

Rajendra Pachauri, chairman of the U.N.'s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, expressed cautious optimism ahead of the December conference. "I think there is a good chance that things will happen," he said.

China's official in charge of climate change policy struck a similar note. "I do believe that political wisdom can help us find solutions acceptable to all parties," said Xie Zhenhua, vice chairman of China's National Development and Reform Commission. "I'm looking forward to the success of the meeting."

(By Anna Ringstrom and Gerard Wynn; Additional reporting by Karin Jensen and Peter Levring; writing by Gerard Wynn; editing by Mark Trevelyan)

Source: UK Reuters

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President bids to wean US from gas-guzzling instincts with push for action to lower car emissions.

The United States served notice yesterday that it finally intends to take firm action to combat the planet's climate crisis, announcing unprecedented plans to regulate vehicle emissions from 2012 with exhaust standards that match those sought for years by California and a handful of other states.

Unveiling the new plan, surrounded by car executives from the US, Japan and Europe, President Barack Obama left no one in doubt that he means to make good on his campaign promises to drag his country out of years of lethargy and inaction on climate protection.

"The status quo is no longer acceptable," President Obama declared, standing in the White House rose garden. "We have done little to increase the fuel efficiency of America's cars and trucks for decades. This is unprecedented change."

The measures are the result of weeks of behind-closed-doors negotiation. If successfully enacted, they will reshape a car industry that is already trying to wean itself from its past gas-guzzling instincts and promise to make the American fleet 40 per cent cleaner and more fuel efficient than it is today.

Importantly, all sides have given their support to the package and will drop any related lawsuits. Although the standards impose new challenges on the car industry at a time of great economic strain, having certainty about what will be expected from it going forward was enough to buy its support.

With so many officials and industry executives around him, Mr Obama was clearly also firing across the bows of Congress, where his signature climate change bill that includes provisions for a controversial cap-and-trade system for industry emissions is likely to face formidable opposition. "This is staggering," said the governor of California Arnold Schwarzenegger after hearing Mr Obama speak. "This president after 120 days in office has taken the action and pulled everyone together. We are ecstatic."

The proposed programme would cover the period 2012-2016 with the goal of achieving a standard of 35.5 miles per gallon across the fleet. Officials said that this will save 1.8 billion barrels of oil, equivalent to taking 58 million cars off the road in the US for an entire year. It would also instruct the Environmental Protection Agency to regulate car exhaust emissions for the first time.

Among those applauding the plan are environmental groups. "Few actions could have a more profound impact in the fight against global warming," commented Bill Becker, leader of the National Association of Clean Air Agencies. "After an initial phase-in, every new vehicle sold in every state in the country will be required to meet California's clean-car greenhouse gas standards."

Officials conceded that the tough regulations will add an average of $600 (£387) to the cost of a new car but contended that the savings in fuel purchases would cancel out the extra cost within three years. "The fact is, everyone wins," the President insisted.

For years, California fought with the Bush White House for the right to set its own standards for vehicle emissions. The proposals, which were supported by other states including New York, New Jersey and Massachusetts, triggered lawsuits from the car industry in Detroit, and the Bush administration was consistent in opposing California's initiatives. As part of this new deal, the state has agreed in advance to defer to Washington henceforth on emissions standards.

Climate change is one of many priorities for the new President and will have to compete with healthcare reform for his attention. He knows that his green agenda may be in particular peril on Capitol Hill because opinion polls continue to show that tackling global warming and energy wastage is one of the lowest priorities for an American public that is far more concerned with a return to economic prosperity.

"Ending our dependence on fossil fuels represents perhaps the most difficult challenge we have ever faced," President Obama said. "Ending this dependence will take time, will take incredible effort, will take historic innovation. More than anything else it will take a willingness to look past our differences."

The President added that the oil which would be saved by the policy is equivalent to the US's imports for an entire year from Saudi Arabia, Libya, Venezuela and Nigeria combined. (By David Usborne)

Source: The Independent

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Tags: climate bill , climate change , USA

WASHINGTON — Lawmakers on a key congressional committee wrangled Tuesday over a far-reaching climate change proposal, with Republicans failing to win changes they said would protect U.S. businesses from the costs of complying with new limits on greenhouse gas emissions.

Rep. Henry Waxman, D-Calif., hopes to get the 946-page bill through his House Energy and Commerce Committee by Memorial Day — a deadline that lawmakers said could require marathon around-the-clock sessions.

But he was off to a rocky start Tuesday. After hours of debate, the committee had considered only a handful of amendments — a tiny fraction of the more than 400 drafted by Republicans and the dozens of others Democrats have prepared. Hundreds of paper copies of the proposals were stacked in cardboard boxes in the committee hearing room.

“We might as well plan on being here all next week,” said Rep. Joe Barton, R-Ennis, who advised his colleagues: “Bring your sleeping bags.”

Republicans failed in their first major attempts to cripple the cornerstone of the bill — Waxman’s plan to force businesses to comply with steadily tightening limits on carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gas emissions or buy allowances to exceed the restraints.

By a vote of 23-32, the committee rejected a proposal by Rep. Roy Blunt, R-Mo., that would have scrapped that so-called “cap-and-trade” plan if average residential retail electricity prices jumped more than 10 percent.

China and India

The panel also voted along party lines to toss out a Republican proposal that would have made the cap-and-trade program contingent on China and India imposing similar greenhouse gas limits.

Leaders in the two countries — among the world’s biggest polluters — have resisted capping emissions.

Republicans said that if U.S. emissions limits are not mirrored around the globe, American businesses could suffer in the international marketplace.

Some businesses would move operations overseas to countries with fewer regulations, predicted Rep. Steve Scalise, R-La.

But Democrats said it was important for the U.S. to take a lead role in limiting emissions — in the hopes that other countries would follow.

Democrats also pointed to provisions in the bill designed to insulate “trade-sensitive industries” such as steel and timber from higher costs by freely giving them 15 percent of the pool of emissions allowances.

The Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee is fashioning its own broad energy bill. But the Senate is largely waiting on the House before it advances climate change legislation.

The House bill has drawn fire from environmentalists who complain that Waxman is undercutting the proposed carbon limits by agreeing to give away too many — more than two-thirds — of the valuable emissions allowances.

Oil industry

The allowance plan also has been rapped by oil industry leaders, who say refiners would not get a fair share of free allowances.

Houston-based ConocoPhillips said U.S. refiners would “be bearing the cost for roughly one-third of the nation’s greenhouse gas emissions.” (By JENNIFER A. DLOUHY)

Source: Houston Chronicle

Tags: China , climate bill , climate change , India , USA