Time for a breath of fresh air

The first thing we need to do is so simple that it has been completely ignored: we need to ban the construction of new coal-fired power stations until the ‘clean coal’ optimists can actually show us that they can deliver. Coal-fired power stations last for fifty years and it is inconceivable that any meaningful vision of a ‘low carbon economy’ includes more of them. Delta Electricity is currently considering a big coal-fired station in NSW.

Then comes a carbon price. While it’s clear that we need one as soon as possible, it’s not clear what that price should be. But the beauty of a carbon tax compared to an emissions trading scheme is that it is easy to design complementary policies, such as investments in energy efficiency, public transport and renewable energy, to augment the impact of a carbon tax. Perversely, under the CPRS the more that state and federal governments invested in such ‘complementary measures’ the more spare permits became available for expanding the output of the big polluters.

Finally, the next scheme should show some real leadership on the international stage by putting serious money on the table to help encourage the developing countries to act.

Back before the CPRS took the wind out of the community it was common sense to believe that early action was cheaper than delayed action. And back before anyone had heard of ‘emission intensive trade exposed industries’ it was patriotic to believe that Australia should lead the world, not lag it. If we are to tackle climate change, we need to get back to where we were before the CPRS knocked our enthusiasm. We need to remind ourselves what we need to achieve, and assure ourselves that we can achieve it.

The question for the Rudd Government now is, is it willing to fight for good climate change policy, or was it simply using climate change policy to cause a good fight?