Australia’s cap and trade system, the Carbon Pollution Reduction Scheme (CPRS), is being reintroduced into Parliament this week, after two rejections in 2009 (see here and here). However, it is almost certain that it will fail again, following decreasing public support for the policy after the Copenhagen conference and Tony Abbott’s ascension to the opposition [...]

Following five weeks of intense negotiations between the Rudd government and the Opposition, the Australian Senate voted once more, by 41 to 33, against bills that would have established the Carbon Pollution Reduction Scheme (CPRS). The Greens, Independent Senator Nick Xenophon, and Family First Senator Steve Fielding joined the Opposition (Liberals + Nationals) in voting [...]

After the Government’s Carbon Pollution Reduction Scheme’s defeat in Senate last August, the Australian Opposition, the Coalition (Liberals + Nationals), had until last Sunday to propose amendments before the reintroduction of the bill in November (for previous developments, see here). After a Party meeting lasting more than four hours yesterday, Mr. Turnbull, the Opposition leader, [...]

The Australian domestic climate surrounding the emission trading scheme issue contrasts with the confidence and dynamism demonstrated by Labour Prime minister Kevin Rudd in multilateral talks. Mr Rudd was in New York late September to advance international negotiations on strategies to cut greenhouse gas emissions ahead of the December Copenhagen summit. He met Bill Clinton [...]

On Thursday (13/08/09), the Australian Senate defeated the Rudd Government’s Carbon Pollution Reduction Scheme (CPRS), a legislative package made up of a Carbon emission trading scheme and ten related bills (click here for previous developments). The Opposition, Greens, and the independents, Nick Xenophon and Steve Fielding, voted to defeat the package 42 to 30. Prime [...]

The Rudd government has just released (19/06/09) draft regulations for the Australian Carbon Pollution Reduction Scheme (CPRS), outlining how carbon emissions will be measured and industry compensation calculated. The draft regulations specify the framework for the Emission Intensive-Trade Exposed assistance program, application procedures and reporting requirements for eligible entities under the program. The regulations just [...]

Last week, in the biggest policy reversal of his prime ministership, aimed at wooing big businesses and the Liberal Party, Kevin Rudd announced important changes concerning Australia’s emission trading scheme. Firstly, Prime Minister Rudd announced the delay of the scheme of one year, pushing back the start date to July 2011, in order to manage the impact [...]

As predicted in Climatico’s last national climate policy report, Australia has just taken the lead, along with Britain, in the development of Carbon Capture and Storage. A few days ago, Prime Minister Kevin Rudd inaugurated the Global Carbon Capture and Storage Institute in Canberra, with its 85 members, ranging from the governments of Japan and [...]

Earth Hour has grown far beyond the expectations of its organiser, WWF Australia, with about one billion people around the world following Sydney’s lead and switching off lights on Saturday night. The United Nations is calling it “the largest demonstration of public concern about climate change ever attempted”. Earth Hour originated in Sydney in 2007, [...]

Since it was first introduced in 1997 as “a world-first” in greenhouse gas reductions, the GreenPower programme has demonstrated that the Australian population feels concerned about climate change. GreenPower is a government accreditation program for renewable energy, which enables households and businesses to buy “green energy” from their providers at an extra cost. The money [...]