The carbon tax

[Jovial Monk]

Bernard Keane:

http://www.crikey.com.au/2011/04/18/sor ... ny-change/

[Jovial Monk]

Tone’s DA non-policy on climate change just blew out 30%:

http://www.crikey.com.au/2011/05/19/tha ... ew-out-30/

[sprintcyclist]

back to the real world, away from links to chatsites ......

TATA, the Indian steel giant, has blamed the UK government's environmental policies as it cut 1500 jobs in one of Britain's poorest regions.
The company, which took much of the former British Steel business five years ago, will axe 8 per cent of its British workforce. Its Scunthorpe plant is to close with the loss of 1200 jobs. A further 300 jobs will go in Teesside.

Unions described the cuts as a "devastating blow" to the region, which is already home to some of Britain's worst unemployment blackspots.

Karl-Ulrich Kohler, Tata Steel's head of Europe, blamed the cuts on the decline of the construction industry, but added that new EU environmental laws and planned British legislation had compounded the company's problems.

"Europe's steel industry is in danger of being made uncompetitive in the world market because of European taxes on UK emissions," said Dr Kohler.

Under the coalition deal, the government plans to bring in the toughest carbon emissions targets in the world by 2027. The EU has already said that member states must slash emissions, but Britain will go farther and cut them by 80 per cent by 2050.

Godfrey Bloom, the UKIP MEP in whose Yorkshire & North Lincolnshire constituency the Scunthorpe cuts will fall, said the "misguided" carbon legislation had made "a bad commercial situation far, far worse".

He added: "Certain extra costs and additional targets are clearly undermining business confidence. The result, as we see, is lost jobs."Keith Hazlewood, national secretary for manufacturing at the GMB union, said: "All we've asked for is a level playing field for the steel industry. The government is just piling more costs on to us."

Mr Kohler said last night that he hoped the government would be able to tinker with the carbon legislation, which is the brainchild of Chris Huhne, the Liberal Democrat Climate Change Minister, in order to help Tata's exports.

"We need reliable long-term policies that support this business and an assessment of the regulatory impact on our export," he said. "It is very clear that we have been heard and listened to (by the government).

"No company can sustain the level of losses we have had and by acting now, we have given ourselves the best chance of success," said Mr Kohler.

Vince Cable, the Business Secretary, said that he was "very disappointed by the cuts", and added that he would be setting up a task force to help workers. Ian Lucas, Labour's industry spokesman, called the announcement a worrying sign for British manufacturing.

"This seriously calls into question how the Tory-led government is facing up to the challenges facing the economy."

http://www.theaustralian.com.au/busines ... 6060096233

[Jovial Monk]

Leaked report shows record carbon emissions



The world economy's return to growth in 2010 coincided with record rise in carbon emissions (Getty Creative Images)

A British newspaper has published leaked figures which show the world's greenhouse gas emissions increased by a record amount last year.

The Guardian published estimates from the International Energy Agency (IEA) which showed the world economy's return to growth in 2010 coincided with a 1.6 gigatonne rise in carbon dioxide emissions.

"The prospect is getting bleaker. That is what the numbers say," IEA chief economist Faith Birol was quoted as saying.

Professor Matthew England, co-director of the Climate Change Research Centre at the University of New South Wales, says the level of emissions is on the rise.

"The minor blip from the financial crisis was a very minor blip and there is an ongoing progressive increase in the amount that humanity is emitting greenhouse gases into the atmosphere," he said.


. . . .

Professor England says half a degree can make a big difference in terms of environmental impact.

"The long-term disintegration of the Greenland ice sheet may pass a tipping point, say at 2.5 [degrees Celsius], that you don't see past at two degrees," he said.

"The progressive warming up the scale from two degrees and beyond locks in more and more costly scales of climate change."

He says Australia would be affected by worse drought cycles, bushfire seasons and other extremes, as well as higher sea levels.

"Two degrees puts that [Great Barrier Reef] under risk of permanent long-term bleaching and that is a huge economic cost to tourism and for Queensland," he said.

"But two degrees is not some magical number where climate change doesn't cost us anything. Even at two degrees, the cost is significant, but as you ramp up beyond that, the costs increase more and more."

And Professor England says the cost will be felt not just in terms of the environment, but in terms of real dollars.

"The flood levy we saw or we see that may be in place for last summer's damaging rains over the Queensland state, we are going to see more and more of these sorts of levies imposed on taxpayers unless we are able to stabilise the climate system," he said.

http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2011 ... ion=justin

[Jovial Monk]

Oh boy, it gets better:

I was gutless over climate ads: Dick Smith
May 30, 2011 - 3:03PM


Cate Blanchett flamed for carbon tax support
Hewson urges Libs to back climate scheme

Entrepreneur Dick Smith says he was too "gutless" to feature in an advertising campaign supporting a carbon tax because he was afraid he would be criticised by Rupert Murdoch's newspapers.

Mr Smith said he was asked to appear in the television ads alongside Oscar winning actor Cate Blanchett, but declined.

http://www.smh.com.au/environment/clima ... z1NoUUJozk

[Aussie]

Q&A had a very good, yet superficial programme tonight. Looking forward to next week, when that whiney, whineging arsehole Pine will be there.

[Jovial Monk]

No longer bother watching Q&A, never do when Chris Payne is on there.

[Socky the Sock.]

How the carbon tax will have a positive impact on global warming is something the Govt doesn't care to explain... yet it is the question everyone wants answered.

[Jovial Monk]

Its meant to have a negative impact on GW by driving people to look for low emissions energy sources/way of life.

Have a look at new houses being built—no eaves let alone no verandahs!

[Jovial Monk]

Heard on local morning ABC radio (never listen to commercial radio, yuck!) Bob Brown speaking in a conciliatory manner, praising PM Gillard’s energy, persistence, negotiating skills etc etc. Wtte a couple hurdles remaining in the multiparty policy committee—lot more flexible, conciliatory and cooperative.

Perhaps Brown had gotten wind of:

Fewer Australians back climate action: poll

The Lowy Institute's annual poll asked about 1,000 people for their opinions on a range of topics, including climate change and the war in Afghanistan.

The poll shows that there has been a steep fall in the number of Australians who think climate change is a serious problem which needs addressing now.

It says 41 per cent of respondents want to see action even if it means a significant cost, down 27 percentage points since 2006.

Thirty-nine per cent of poll respondents said they would not be willing to pay anything extra on their electricity bill to help tackle climate change.

Institute director Michael Wesley says the survey also shows 75 per cent of adult Australians believe the Federal Government has done a poor job addressing the climate change issue.

"The fact that the Government hasn't acted decisively, it's been on-again off-again with the ETS and then the carbon tax, I think it's a belief that the Government is wavering on this," he said.

http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2011 ... 253948.htm

That survey combined with ebbing support for the Greens might have made the Greens see sense/ Note how people think govt is flip flopping ETS now CT? Well, who insisted on the carbon tax? The fucking Greens!

That support for a CT/ETS is ebbing is not surprising, it has been dropping since 2008. When you are more worried about cost of living, mortgage stress, worried about your job longer term, less tangible issues become less important.

The govt is now starting to sell the Carbon Tax, showing they are confident a Bill to introduce the CT/ETS will soon be ready:

'Battlers' buffer' to protect poor from carbon tax

The Federal Government has begun selling its carbon tax compensation program, with Treasurer Wayne Swan saying a "battlers' buffer" will protect around 3 million low-income households from price increases.

Yesterday Prime Minister Julia Gillard said nine out of 10 households would be compensated for price increases under the planned carbon tax.

Ms Gillard said the compensation would be in the form of pension increases, family tax benefits or tax cuts, and challenged Opposition leader Tony Abbott to release details of his promised tax cuts at the same time the figures are made public when the Multi-Party Climate Change Committee agrees on climate change policy.

"The vast majority of Australian households won't pay a cent as a result of the price on carbon," Ms Gillard told ABC Radio this morning.

"For the lower-income households, we'll make sure there's a safety net there, a buffer, so they're actually getting 20 per cent more than the expected impact on them of a price on carbon."

Mr Swan - also doing the rounds of radio stations to promote the plan - said the "battler's buffer" was a key part of the compensation scheme.

"We think that's pretty important because if you're on a low income you do spend a much higher percentage of your income on energy and of course your room to move is so much smaller," he said.

Ms Gillard said the carbon price would drive a "behavioural change", with polluting industries finding cleaner ways of working and greener energy sources.

http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2011 ... 254243.htm