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Australia PM pledges climate plan | Australia PM pledges climate plan |
(30 minutes later) | |
Australian Prime Minister John Howard has announced a shift in policy on climate change, promising to set up a carbon trading scheme to cut pollution. | Australian Prime Minister John Howard has announced a shift in policy on climate change, promising to set up a carbon trading scheme to cut pollution. |
Mr Howard said he would set a target next year for limiting greenhouse gas emissions and also pledged to put in place a carbon trading scheme by 2012. | Mr Howard said he would set a target next year for limiting greenhouse gas emissions and also pledged to put in place a carbon trading scheme by 2012. |
Australia is one of the worst polluters per head of population in the world. | Australia is one of the worst polluters per head of population in the world. |
Despite his new plans, Mr Howard has warned that setting a cap on carbon emissions would hurt the economy. | Despite his new plans, Mr Howard has warned that setting a cap on carbon emissions would hurt the economy. |
His announcement comes ahead of a national election later this year, in which Mr Howard will be seeking his fifth consecutive win. | |
If we get this wrong it will do enormous damage to the economy John Howard | If we get this wrong it will do enormous damage to the economy John Howard |
The opposition Labor party, which has a strong lead in the opinion polls, has portrayed the government as dithering and backward-looking on global warming, reports the BBC's Phil Mercer in Sydney. | |
Labor has pledged to cut greenhouse gas emissions by 60% by 2050. Mr Howard does not plan to reveal his targets until next year, once the economic costs of carbon trading have been fully studied. | |
"Implementing an emissions trading scheme and setting a long-term goal for reducing emissions will be the most momentous economic decision Australia will take in the next decade," Mr Howard told an annual meeting of his Liberal Party. | |
"If we get this wrong it will do enormous damage to the economy, to jobs and to the economic well-being of ordinary Australians, especially low-income households." | "If we get this wrong it will do enormous damage to the economy, to jobs and to the economic well-being of ordinary Australians, especially low-income households." |
'Better scheme' | |
Australia and the US are the only major industrialised nations not to ratify the 1997 Kyoto Protocol on cutting greenhouse gas emissions. | |
Australian farmers have seen record droughts this yearMr Howard promised that Australia's carbon trading scheme would be better than those in place in Europe. | Australian farmers have seen record droughts this yearMr Howard promised that Australia's carbon trading scheme would be better than those in place in Europe. |
Australia has recently seen record drought conditions, which have harmed economic growth and caused widespread despair among the farming community. | Australia has recently seen record drought conditions, which have harmed economic growth and caused widespread despair among the farming community. |
Residents have been ordered to cut back on consumption and farm production has plummeted. | |
Some experts believe that these parched conditions are the result of the world's hunger for fossil fuels, while others though see it as part of a natural cycle. | |
Whatever the arguments, many Australians want their leaders to be far more proactive when it comes to the environment, our correspondent says. |
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