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Carbon emissions curbs: How key countries line up

Carbon trading scheme gains in Australia
Canberra, Australia (UPI) Nov 25, 2009 - The Australian government struck a deal Tuesday with opposition leaders on a revised carbon emissions trading scheme, clearing the way for the Senate to approve legislation this week. The Carbon Pollution Reduction Scheme aims to cut Australia's emissions by between 5 percent and 15 percent from their 2000 levels within 10 years. The deal follows five weeks of intense bargaining in which the government met opposition demands for increased compensation for coal miners, electricity generators and other large polluters. The Senate had rejected a similar bill in August.

Under the concessions, the coal industry will receive $1.5 billion over the next five years, double the previous level of assistance. Electricity generators will get $7.3 billion in assistance over 10 years, up from $3.9 billion. The cost for producing carbon dioxide will begin at $9.24 per metric ton until July 2012. Thereafter, the market will determine the cost. Under the revised plan, the government will increase the assistance available to the electricity sector from 130.7 million permits to 228.7 million permits, an increase of 75 percent. It will also increase the period over which the permits are available from five years to 10.

Australia's carbon trading scheme could serve as a model for other countries, including the United States, during next month's climate-change talks in Copenhagen, Robert Stavins, director of Harvard University's environmental economics program, told Bloomberg. Australia, the world's largest exporter of coal, is also the biggest per-capita producer of greenhouse gases, with an average output of 20.5 tons of carbon dioxide per person each year.

"It is significant that Australia -- a country with significant coal resources, dependence on coal for electricity generation, and great sensitivity of its energy-intensive industries to international competition with Asian countries -- would move forward with a climate policy," Stavins said. "Prime Minister Rudd has already been a leader internationally in climate-change policy, and this development in Parliament can only strengthen that," he said. Stavins noted that Australia's policy could also represent "a meaningful signal" for the United States.

The government hopes to pass the bill before the upcoming climate talks in Copenhagen. The Climate Institute of Australia Wednesday said although it opposes "extra assistance for big polluters," it urged "immediate passage" of the carbon emissions trading scheme. "Now is the time to move on and ensure this legislation is a springboard for ambitious global action and improved Australian carbon competitiveness, not a gangplank to drown global action or leave Australia in the backwaters of the growing global low-carbon economy," said John Connor, chief of The Climate Institute.
by Staff Writers
 Paris (AFP) Nov 25, 2009
 US proposals announced Wednesday for curbing greenhouse-gas emissions add a key piece to the negotiation jigsaw puzzle ahead of the December 7-18 world climate talks in Copenhagen.

Here is how other major emitters line up:

INDUSTRIALISED COUNTRIES

- UNITED STATES: World's No. 2 polluter says it will offer to cut emissions by 17 percent from 2005 levels by 2020, a 30-percent reduction by 2025, a 42-percent drop by 2030 and a fall of 83 percent by 2050.

The offer "is in the context of an overall deal in Copenhagen that includes robust mitigation contributions from China and the other emerging economies," says the White House.

The US target for 2020 means only a fall of a few percentage points compared to 1990, the benchmark year widely used as the interim target in the UN process.

- EUROPEAN UNION: Unilaterally cutting its emissions by 20 percent by 2020 compared to 1990 levels, and offering to go to 30 percent if other industrialised parties follow suit.

- RUSSIA: President Dmitry Medvedev, in a summit with the EU on November 18, reportedly agreed to a cut of 20-25 percent by 2020 from 1990 levels, raising its target from 15 percent. This has not been put into writing or confirmed officially.

- JAPAN: Offers a cut of 25 percent by 2020 relative to 1990, provided there is "a highly ambitious accord with participation by all major countries."

- CANADA: Sees a reduction of 20 percent by 2020 compared to 2006, equivalent to a fall of three percent compared to the 1990 benchmark. The federal parliament has passed a non-binding motion urging a 25-percent cut relative to 1990, while the province of Quebec has said it will follow the EU's position.

- AUSTRALIA: Bill before parliament for reducing carbon pollution by between five and 25 percent by 2020 from 2000, with the higher levels dependent on the outcome in Copenhagen. Experts estimate that a cut of 25 percent over 2000 equates to 24 percent over 1990 levels.

- NORWAY: Says it is willing to reduce emissions by 30 percent by 2020 over 1990 levels, and say it is willing to consider going to 30 or 40 percent. Also aims to be carbon neutral by 2030.

- NEW ZEALAND: Reduction of 10-20 percent by 2020 on 1990 levels, depending on outcome in Copenhagen.

DEVELOPING COUNTRIES:

- BRAZIL: Voluntary reduction of 36-39 percent by 2020, mainly from tackling deforestation in the Amazon, as compared to its forecast level of emissions in 2020.

- CHINA: World's biggest carbon emitter. Vowed at the UN's climate summit in September to improve its energy efficiency in proportion to its economic growth, but no figures so far.

- INDIA: Says it is taking actions to reduce emissions and may quantify them into a "broadly indicative number," but no announcement yet. India also argues that its per-capita emissions are very low and legally-binding cuts have to fall on the shoulders of rich countries alone.

- INDONESIA: National programme would reduce emissions by 26 percent by 2020 from forecast trends mainly by tackling deforestation, according to a speech by President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono on September 29. With international support Indonesia could reduce emissions by as much as 41 percent, Yudhoyono said.

- SOUTH KOREA: Has promised a voluntary 30-percent reduction by 2020 over "business-as-usual" trends.

- MEXICO: Announced in June a cut of 50 million tonnes a year by 2012, equivalent to around eight percent of national emissions.

- SOUTH AFRICA: Has not announced specific targets so far.

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