The Coalition’s budget reply and its Rebuilding Sustainable Prosperity plan further entrench the Coalition’s high risk approach to carbon pollution, competitiveness and productivity and actively undermine efforts to find a global solution,” said John Connor, CEO, The Climate Institute.

"Slashing the $256 million funding for The Carbon Trust, established particularly to help Australian small businesses and households improve their pollution reduction and energy efficiency efforts, is extremely unhelpful and places most of the Coalition’s pollution reduction plans in their Direct Action Abatement Fund.  This will hopefully be supported by backing for changes to renewable energy legislation now before Parliament and for ambitious efforts to improve Australia’s poor performance in energy efficiency. 

"However, even if these efforts are combined the Coalition, like the Government, are well short of credible plans to achieve their promised targets of reducing Australia’s carbon pollution levels 5 to 25% below 2000 levels by 2020.

“This is made worse as a large bulk of the Coalition’s intended reductions are in areas such as soil carbon using methodology as yet unrecognized internationally. 

“This international credibility deficit has been further slugged by plans announced by the Coalition on Wednesday to reduce Australia’s investment in helping the poorest of developing countries adapt to the impacts of climate change.  The removal of almost $200 million funding for the International Climate Change Adaptation Initiative and Ausaid Climate Change support is a direct attack on “fast-start financing” commitments made by Australia in support of the Copenhagen Accord.  

“The Coalition cannot be serious about helping global efforts to tackle climate change if it is kicking away key foundations, like this investment in financing, for reaching ambitious global climate action – it knows full well the devastating impact this funding reversal would have if made by an Australian Government.

“The Climate Institute urges the Coalition to reinstate funding for investment in developing countries, and for Australian businesses and households represented by investments in the Carbon Trust but also support for low income households.  The latter may have come about because the Government appears to have erroneously mislabeled its low income household as the now defunct ‘Low Emission Assistance for Renters’ program’.

“Coalition and Government policy are locked in an embrace of perilous and plummeting policy that endangers our international credibility and domestic competitiveness in the emerging global clean energy and pollution reduction markets.  

“Who will end the current race to the bottom in Australian climate action?"

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