Turnbull headed down wrong track on emissions trading scheme
Environment Minister Malcolm Turnbull is heading down the wrong track by supporting an emissions trading model that fails to guarantee greenhouse gas cuts and that is not supported by other nations, the Australian Greens said today.
Greens climate change and energy spokesperson Senator Christine Milne said the emissions trading model that Minister Turnbull is reportedly interested in, the McKibbin model, fails to provide any certainty of reducing greenhouse gases.
"The whole point of an emissions trading scheme is that it is a way to use the market to find the cheapest, most efficient way to reduce greenhouse gas emissions," Senator Christine Milne said in Hobart.
"This means it is imperative for the government to set a national greenhouse gas target and design its emissions trading scheme to achieve that target.
"The McKibbin model fails to set a greenhouse cap. It favours certainty about the economic cost of emissions permits over the certainty of reducing greenhouse emissions.
"Nor is the McKibbin model compatible with emissions trading schemes operating overseas. The model has been around for many years and was considered and rejected internationally. There is no reason to think that this will change.
"An international emissions trading system already exists through the Kyoto Protocol; what we need is a compatible national emissions trading system as quickly as possible.
"Minister Turnbull will be making a grave mistake if he encourages the Howard government to opt for an emissions trading scheme without a national greenhouse cap.
"Prime Minister John Howard says he won't have emissions trading unless it is a global system and he then embraces a model which is incompatible with a global system. Clearly it's another blocking tactic.
"The Howard government has held Australia back in addressing climate change. As the IPCC report confirmed earlier this month, we can't afford to waste any more time with schemes that simply can't deliver the deep emissions cuts we need."
