By Gemma Daley
March 19 (Bloomberg) -- An Australian parliamentary committee urged the government to commit to deeper cuts in carbon gas pollution as a “matter of urgency.”
The government should target an 80 percent reduction in greenhouse gas levels by 2050, rather than its 60 percent goal, the Joint Standing Committee on Treaties said in a report submitted to parliament in Canberra today. Australia uses 2000 levels as its base.
“This is very onerous for Australia,” Kelvin Thomson, chair of the committee, which can make non-binding proposals, said in an e-mailed statement. “Scientific evidence detailed in this report shows that climate change is happening faster.”
The government wants to cut emissions by between five and 15 percent by 2020, according to draft legislation released March 10. It needs support from seven opposition or minor party senators to ensure laws pass through the upper house and already faces a Senate inquiry into its carbon pollution plans.
An emissions trading system, which forces companies to pay for excess pollution, is scheduled be begin in July 2010. The plan is projected to trim Australia’s annual economic growth by 0.1 percentage point.
“The Government must listen to the latest science, to its own parliamentary inquiries and to the overwhelming public demand for stronger action,” Australian Conservation Foundation Executive Director Don Henry said in an e-mailed statement.
Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd, 51, ratified the Kyoto Protocol on his first day in office in November 2007. The country’s emissions from fuel combustion rose 31 percent in the decade through 2000 and 45 percent in the 15 years ending in 2005, International Energy Agency data show.
To contact the reporter on this story: Gemma Daley in Canberra at gdaley@bloomberg.net
Posts
No comments:
Post a Comment