Gillard sets climate concepts


Prime Minister Julia Gillard has emphatically ruled out any kind of carbon price before 2012 as she prepares to release a new policy on climate change.

That means no ETS, no carbon tax and no interim carbon levy until then.

Ms Gillard has already announced new approaches to the mining tax and to asylum seekers; climate change is the next cab off the rank for a pre-election policy makeover.

Ms Gillard made her strongest statements on the issue to date in an interview with ABC Television on Wednesday night.

Earlier this year, former Prime Minister Kevin Rudd delayed the ETS (also called the Carbon Pollution Reduction Scheme) from 2010 to at least 2013.

'I am holding to the decision that was announced by the government that we will review in 2012 the nature of the community consensus in Australia about the Carbon Pollution Reduction Scheme,' Ms Gillard said, adding that international progress would also be a factor.

'The announcements of the former Prime Minister Kevin Rudd about the Carbon Pollution Reduction Scheme stand.'

Ms Gillard had previously noted the decision to delay the ETS and said she wanted to build a community consensus before implementing a carbon price, but made her views clearer on Wednesday.

She reiterated that she would soon make announcements on climate change, and said they would focus on what could be done 'in the meantime', before there was a price on carbon.

The government is working hard behind the scenes on new actions to combat climate change, which are believed to focus on renewable energy - solar panels, wind farms and geothermal projects.

There is a range of such projects already funded which Ms Gillard could extend or highlight, or she could opt for new incentives for green energy.

The government is also due to announce new measures on energy efficiency, with insiders speculating about a 'white certificate' scheme.

The opposition says there is no need for a carbon price and is pushing instead for a 'direct action' scheme where the government pays for emissions reductions.

This could bear similarities to Labor's new approach.

http://www.skynews.com.au/topstories/article.aspx?id=482037&articleID=


So its pollute to perish with Labor

Has Julia Gillard forgotten the Australians that died in Victoria?

First of all, I am an environmental professional with some 20 years experience. You and others like you do no favours by trying to link the Victorian bushfires with Climate change.

It just adds fuel to the fire for denialists who think that 'scientists' don't know what they are talking about. In point of fact it's deep green froth-at-the-mouth environutters who don't know what they are talking about - and that includes multinational organisations such as Greenpeace too.  

You can not link a single event like the Victorian bushfires to Global Warming, although with continued Global Warming there will indeed be an increased risk of bushfires.

Sorry..............  on second thoughts, no - I make no apologies.

This is a serious issue -by far the most serious issue to face mankind ever. We don't need misinterpretations.

As far as the ALP and Libs (Dumb and Dumber) are concerned, we're screwed.

Climate Change Cause of 2009 Victorian Bushfires



A study by a non-partisan environment group The Climate Institute has stated the cause of the 2009 deadly bushfires in Victoria, Australia were due to climate change.


Coinciding with one of the southeastern Australian state of Victoria's worst-ever heatwaves, in February 2009, firefighters battled firestorms throughout parts of country Victoria - blazes that have left 209 dead and thousands of houses destroyed in one of the darkest days in the country's history. Some hamlets, such as the delightful town of Marysville in the mountain region of the state, well-known to Victorians as a honeymoon resort, have been completely obliterated from the map.

Critics have decried everything from the way the firefighters were deployed against the fires, to environmental policies which prevented necessary burning off of dead vegetation, to the crippling drought which has gripped the state and lack of government guidance on the tried and true "leave early or stay" policy advised by the government's firefighting authorities.

Climate Change Changing Australia's Weather
Now the respected non-partisan organization The Climate Institute has delivered a report which contends that the underlying cause of the severe bushfires is human-induced climate change and say that Australians should be prepared for extended bushfire seasons and drier weather as temperatures rise.

more @
http://wildfires.suite101.com/article.cfm/report_climate_change_the_cause_of_bushfire

Germany targets switch to 100% renewables for its electricity by 2050


Germany could derive all of its electricity from renewable energy sources by 2050 and become the world's first major industrial nation to kick the fossil-fuel habit, the country's Federal Environment Agency said today.

The country already gets 16% of its electricity from wind, solar and other renewable sources – three times' higher than the level it had achieved 15 years ago.

"A complete conversion to renewable energy by 2050 is possible from a technical and ecological point of view," said Jochen Flasbarth, president of the Federal Environment Agency.

"It's a very realistic target based on technology that already exists – it's not a pie-in-the-sky prediction," he said.

Thanks to its Renewable Energy Act, Germany is the world leader in photovoltaics: it expects to add more than 5,000 megawatts of photovoltaic capacity this year to reach a total of 14,000 megawatts. It is also the second-biggest wind-power producer after the United States. Some 300,000 renewable energy jobs have been created in Germany in the last decade.

The government has set goals for cutting greenhouse gas emissions by 40% between 1990 and 2020, and by 80-85% by 2050. That goal could be achieved if Germany switches completely to renewable sources by 2050, Flasbarth said.

About 40% of Germany's greenhouse gases come from electricity production, in particular, from coal-fired power plants.

Flasbarth said the Environment Agency's study found that switching to green electricity by 2050 would have economic advantages, especially for the vital export-oriented manufacturing industry. It would also create tens of thousands of jobs.

"The costs of a complete switch to renewables are a lot less than the costs to future generations that climate change will cause," he said.

Last month a report by the UK's Centre for Alternative Technology in Machynlleth, mid Wales, said Britain could eliminate all its carbon emissions by 2030 by overhauling its power supply.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2010/jul/07/germany-renewable-energy-electricity



Meanwhile Julia Gillard's first week as P.M ... signing an export deal for climate change causing coal to Vietnam