The
Clean Energy Future legislation has finally been passed by both houses of the
Australian parliament.
The much-debated price on carbon is the major part of this
comprehensive package. A fixed price of
$23 per tonne will apply after 1 July 2012 and will be paid by the country's largest
polluters.. In three years this will
become a flexible price.
Other
important features are the $10 billion for renewable energy projects, $1
billion for a biodiversity fund and the commitment to close 200 MW of
coal-fired electricity generation from up to three of the most polluting power
stations. And then there is the package to compensate most households for price
increases resulting from pricing carbon pollution.
It is a
sad reflection on Australian politics that the serious threat of climate change
could not have been dealt with in a bipartisan manner. Instead we've had to endure months of
scare-mongering, exaggeration and posturing by those wanting to delay even
further any effective action to move our nation towards coping with the complex
changes ahead of us.
The need
for urgent action has been further highlighted by a recent report from the US
Department of Energy that worldwide
about 512 million tonnes more carbon was pumped into the air last year than in
2009, an increase of 6 %.
Obviously
time is running out for humanity to limit temperature rises and the associated
extreme weather events. In addition
there are a myriad other effects such as
sea level rise and the associated humanitarian and economic costs, changes to rainfall patterns,
migration of diseases such as malaria,
and biodiversity loss – to mention but a few.
The
Clean Energy Future legislation is an important first step that we need to
build on to ensure that humanity and the wider community of life has a
future.
