Australia faces high penalties for greenhouse-gas emission

Australia's new Prime Minister Kevin Rudd has said that his country faces high penalties for exceeding its greenhouse-gas emission targets under the Kyoto Protocol.

Climate-change and ratification of Kyoto will be high on the agenda of the new Labour Government's first cabinet meeting in Canberra today.

Rudd is hoping the ratification process will be well advanced by the time he arrives in Bali next week for the next round of post-Kyoto discussions. Projections by the Australian Greenhouse Office suggest Australia faces high penalties for exceeding targets set out in the current agreement.

"We are currently likely to ...overshoot our Kyoto target by one per cent," Rudd told a local radio channel today.

Rudd said the penalty would be set out under the post-Kyoto deal that kicks in after 2012. It would include a commitment to a further reduction - 60 million tonnes - in carbon emissions plus a 30 per cent penalty added to the subsequent commitment target.

Rudd warned the cost of energy would increase once Australia committed to renewable-energy targets.

"When you're dealing with climate change ultimately it will impact for example on energy prices," he said, adding his Government was committed to ensuring that the financial impact, particularly on lower-income earners, was handled in a fair and equitable fashion.


Courtesy:thehindu.com
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