Australia looks beyond Kyoto with new pact

By Louise Dodson and Wendy Frew
July 28, 2005
In the deep end .. . Australia faces a dire environmental future if
global greenhouse gas emissions are not curbed.

In the deep end .. . Australia faces a dire environmental future if global greenhouse gas emissions are not curbed.
Photo: Jacky Ghossein

A new agreement between Australia, the United States, India, China and South Korea to commercially develop technology to reduce damaging greenhouse gas emissions is to be announced by the Federal Government today.

Australia will later this year host the first meeting of government representatives from these countries to negotiate the details of the agreement, which is seen by the Howard Government as an alternative to the Kyoto Protocol.

However, opposition parties and green groups said the deal was nothing more than a cover for the Government's reluctance to cut greenhouse gas pollution and ignores existing renewable energy markets.

Critics also pointed out that Australia and the US - which have refused to ratify the internationally supported Kyoto Protocol to cut emissions - were doing far less than major developing countries to address their own greenhouse pollution.

The agreement's aim was for the development of commercially viable technologies by 2012, when the Kyoto Protocol comes into effect, Government sources said.

Technological solutions include the filtering of emissions and the burial of carbon dioxide produced by coal-fired power stations. Export and technology sharing partnerships would also be set up. Although Australia is a leader in many of these technologies, at this stage none is commercially viable.

The Foreign Minister, Alexander Downer, is expected to discuss details of the agreement with his counterparts from India, China and South Korea, who are meeting at the Association of South-East Asian Nations foreign ministers' summit in Laos.

The Australian Conservation Foundation's executive director, Don Henry, said the US was "dodging the issue of setting mandatory targets to cut emissions. China is showing more seriousness about this issue than both Australia and the US."

The Federal Environment Minister, Ian Campbell, said yesterday that details of the pact would be announced soon. "It's quite clear the Kyoto Protocol won't get the world to where it wants to go," Senator Campbell said.

"We need to engage the big emitters, we need to engage the countries that have no commitments inside Kyoto, we need to ensure that we develop technologies that will see energy expand, because we need more energy."

China and India have already made substantial progress towards securing their energy needs and shifting towards clean energy such as wind.

Australia has a mandatory renewable energy target of about 2 per cent of all electricity production, but the Government has refused to extend it.

The leader of the Greens, Bob Brown, said the power of the US and Australian coal lobbies was the key to the new pact.

"The secret pact's five member countries include four of the world's biggest coal producers - China, USA, India and Australia. "This is all about taxpayers' money being diverted from developing clean, renewable technologies to try to make burning coal less dirty."


- Australia's annual temperatures could rise between 1C and 6C by 2070.

- This would mean more heatwaves, bushfires and droughts, threatening food production, property, lives.

- Coastal communities will be more vulnerable to cyclones, heavy storms, flooding.

- Changes in weather patterns could overfill some dams, leave others dry, and increase the risk of power failures from high demand or bushfires.

- Jobs threatened by damage to fishing, cropping and livestock businesses. Tourism will also suffer, with ecosystems such as the Great Barrier Reef at risk.
