“We welcome the Government canvassing a broad range of options to tackle climate change,” says advisor to the Climate Institute, Erwin Jackson.

“However a weakness in the paper is that it doesn’t recognise the scale of the existing global carbon market. According to the World Bank, the international carbon market grew in value to an estimated $28 billion in the first three quarters of 2006, more than doubling in value over the previous year, and involving countries like China and India.”

“The Government’s discussion paper makes a useful contribution to the debate about how we should address climate change. It recognises that Australia’s emissions are set to rise by almost 30% on 1990 levels if we don’t take action, and it recognises that a switch to clean energy is essential to tackling climate change,” Mr Jackson said.

“But it’s also important to recognise that there is a very healthy global carbon market operating already. The next logical step is for Australia to implement an internationally compatible domestic carbon trading scheme.”

“The international carbon trading market is worth more than the US wheat market, and is already driving clean technologies into countries like India and China. By the end of this decade it is projected to avoid emissions which equal the total annual greenhouse pollution of Canada and France combined.”  Mr Jackson said.

“While the rest of the world has started the race to control climate change, Australia is missing out on the business and clean energy opportunities that will come from participating in the current global market.”

“Australia is blessed with abundant clean energy resources and could be a world leader in tackling climate change. The Government should join the global clean energy boom by introducing strong climate change laws, ratifying the Kyoto Protocol and introducing an effective carbon trading scheme to reward business for investment in clean energy technologies.”