What an extraordinary, gutless capitulation by Josh Frydenberg

Katharine Murphy - a 'gutless
capitulation' by Josh Frydenberg.

What an extraordinary capitulation.

Just 24 hours of controversy from entirely predictable quarters and a carefully calibrated process to try to engineer a truce in Australia’s utterly wretched climate politics has been all but abandoned by its architects.

Josh Frydenberg has gone in the space of 24 hours from saying quite clearly the government would consider an emissions intensity trading scheme for the electricity sector to trying to pretend he said no such thing.

The retreat is, frankly, unseemly.

Actually, the retreat is more than unseemly, it’s pathetic – and the consequences of it stretch far beyond yet another apparent failure to do what needs to be done to ensure our economy makes an orderly transition to the carbon-constrained world that the Turnbull government willingly accepted when it signed Australia up to the Paris international climate agreement this time 12 months ago.

Read the comment on The Guardian by political editor, Katharine Murphy - “What an extraordinary, gutless capitulation by Josh Frydenberg.”

CSIRO, Energy Networks Australia back emissions trading scheme over RETs to lower power prices

A carbon emissions trading scheme in the electricity sector could lead to an average saving of $216 per year on household power bills, a major report has concluded.

The CSIRO and Energy Networks Australia (ENA) have spent two years analysing the future of Australia's electricity system.

They concluded a system where high-carbon emitting power generators have to buy "credits" from lower-emitting generators would be the least expensive way for Australia to reach its carbon reduction targets.

The two organisations have been less enthusiastic about technology-focused emission-reduction frameworks.

Read the ABC story - “CSIRO, Energy Networks Australia back emissions trading scheme over RETs to lower power prices.”

The Age calls for urgent and 'potent' climate action

Last month, amid great fanfare and excessive self-congratulations, the representatives of 200 nations at UN-sponsored climate change talks in Paris hailed a general agreement to curb carbon emissions. The covenant, which takes effect in 2020, is intended to limit the potential rise in average global temperatures to "well below 2 degrees" and, ideally, to less than 1.5 degrees above pre-industrial levels.

The obvious, but unanswered, question is how this will be done in practice, especially here in Australia, where there is neither a carbon emissions trading scheme (a market-based system) nor a punitive system for taxing big polluters.

Read the Editorial in today’s Melbourne Age - “Global warming: Australia urgently needs potent climate policies.”