Rudd Echoes Obama in Push for Climate Deal Before Copenhagen
Nov. 27 (Bloomberg) -- Australian leader Kevin Rudd willtoday try to force through legislation aimed at reducing carbonemissions, days before he flies to Washington for talks withPresident Barack Obama on global warming.
Both men are struggling to honor election pledges to tackleclimate change, with legislation passing in the lower houses ofboth countries before stalling in the senate. Meeting Obama onNov. 30 “will help build momentum towards an ambitious globalagreement in Copenhagen,” Rudd said yesterday.
“Obama faces the exact same problem as Rudd, trying to getlegislation through the senate, which is heavily influenced byvested interests and lobby groups,” Peter Kenyon, professor ofeconomic policy at Curtin University’s Graduate School ofBusiness in Perth, said yesterday in an interview.
Failure to deliver on the legislation may weaken the handof rich countries when at least 66 world heads meet in theDanish capital from Dec. 7 to win a global consensus for cuttinggreenhouse gases. China, which yesterday set its first targetfor controlling the growth of emissions, Nov. 25 blamed slowprogress in talks on a “lack of good faith” on the part ofdeveloped nations.
Negotiations leading up to the summit have been stymied asindustrialized and developing countries disagreed on emissions-reduction targets and how much financial help rich nationsshould provide to poor ones.
“The United States is the biggest developed country in theworld, so it should shoulder its historic responsibilities andobligations suitable to its national development level,”Chinese Foreign Ministry Spokesman Qin Gang said yesterday.
Facing Criticism
China said it will cut carbon dioxide emissions per unit ofgross domestic product by between 40 percent and 45 percent by2020 compared with 2005 levels. China has resisted calls for itto cut its carbon output, saying such measures are unfair for adeveloping country to undertake.
In an attempt to break the deadlock, Obama will proposecutting U.S. emissions “in the range of 17 percent” from 2005levels by 2020, Carol Browner, his top adviser on energy and theenvironment, told reporters Nov. 25.
Emissions caps in Australia may provide a model forcountries attending the Copenhagen summit, Robert Stavins,director of Harvard University’s environmental economics program,said earlier this week.
While the U.S. is the biggest greenhouse-gas producer amongdeveloped nations, Australia has overtaken it as the biggestper-person emitter of carbon dioxide, British risk analysis firmMaplecroft said Sept. 9.
Second Attempt
Today’s attempt to win senate approval for the legislationis the second in four months. Rudd on Nov. 24 offered A$7billion ($6.4 billion) in assistance to coal and electricityproducers in return for opposition support for the laws, aimedat cutting the country’s emissions by between 5 percent and 15percent from their 2000 levels within 10 years.
Coal mining companies lobbied for greater governmentassistance. Australia is the world’s largest exporter of coal,one of the main causes of greenhouse gases.
The amendments more than double the level of assistance topower producers like AGL Energy Ltd. and Origin Energy Ltd.,Australia’s two largest electricity retailers. The price forproducing carbon dioxide will start at A$10 ($9.24) per metricton until July 2012, after which the market will start settingthe cost.
Rudd’s Battle
Rudd’s Labor party needs support from seven non-governmentsenators to win passage through the 76-seat upper house.
Tony Abbott, a shadow minister in Liberal leader MalcolmTurnbull’s party, was among seven opposition members to quit thefront bench yesterday in protest against the bill.
“We should do things in the national interest, rather thanjust give the prime minister a personal victory to take toCopenhagen,” Abbott said.
Turnbull has staked his leadership on getting the LiberalParty and its National Party coalition partners to approve thebill. Should he be ousted, the new leader would be opposed tothe legislation and may insist party members vote against it,political analyst Peter van Onselen told Sky TV.
“It’s a matter of whether or not loyalists to Turnbullwould be willing to become dissidents to a new leader and” votefor the legislation, van Onselen said. “I’m not so sure.”
Lawmakers are due to vote today in Canberra.
“If it doesn’t get through it will be an absolutetragedy,” Curtin University’s Kenyon said. “Australia’s statusas good global citizens will take a pounding.”
To contact the reporter on this storyJason Scott in Canberra at jscott14@bloomberg.net
Last Updated: November 26, 2009 08:01 ESTSource: Bloomberg
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