Rudd said Australia had to get "real" about climate change by introducing the cap-and-trade system for greenhouse gas emissions, as the opposition coalition agonised over supporting the bill being debated in the Senate.

"Climate change and our action on it will go way beyond any of our lives... it's a fundamental existential question for the future," Rudd told reporters.

"It's time the country got real about it."

The scheme would allow Australia to cut carbon emissions by 2020 by between five and 25 percent from 2000 levels, with the higher levels dependent on an ambitious global agreement at a UN meeting in Copenhagen next month.

It contains significant new financial concessions for industry -- including billions of dollars for the coal and electricity sectors -- and excludes farming in a bid to win the crucial support of the conservative opposition.

The vote on the scheme will be a key test for Rudd, whose centre-left Labor Party controls the lower house but does not have an outright majority in the Senate.

The Senate rejected the scheme in August and a second knockback would allow Rudd to dissolve parliament and call a snap election, although he has denied any plans to do so.

Rudd, who won office in 2007 on an environmentally friendly platform, has described climate change as "the greatest moral challenge of our generation" in Australia, which is in the grip of the worst drought in a century.

He said some elements of the scheme would be shaped by the outcome at Copenhagen, where some 190 countries have been invited to hammer out a new climate treaty to replace the Kyoto Protocol which expires in 2012.

"But we are consolidating an Australian position to give our business community certainty for the future," he said.

"National action is one thing but frankly global action is fundamental to our long-term survival as a country."

Environmentalists attacked the proposed scheme, labelling Rudd "Old King Coal" for his commitment to the resources sector, a major contributor to the country's economy.

The prime minister was also interrupted by a chorus of whistling from protesters in the public gallery as he spoke about the scheme in parliament.

"It's polluters' pay day in Parliament House," Greens leader Bob Brown said.

Meanwhile the debate exposed weak support for opposition leader Malcolm Turnbull, whose Liberal/National coalition was locked in talks on whether to support the legislation until late on Tuesday.

Turnbull eventually announced he was "confident" the coalition would back the bill, but some colleagues disputed the claim and said he could face a leadership contest this week.

Australia is the developed world's biggest per capita carbon polluter, various studies have shown, although it accounts for just a small fraction of global emissions.

Scientists say emissions by industrialised nations must fall by 25-40 percent by 2020 over 1990 levels to limit warming to two degrees Celsius (3.6 degrees Fahrenheit), a threshold widely adopted as safe.

Experts say the Australian proposal of 25 percent of 2000 levels by 2020 equates to 24 percent of 1990 levels because record land-clearing allowed up until 1990 no long occurs.

The EU has already vowed to reduce its emissions by 20 percent from 1990 levels before 2020, raising the target to 30 percent in the event of an international agreement on the issue, while Japan has offered 25 percent.

The world's biggest polluters, China and the United States, have yet to set limits but Washington is expected to announce a target for reducing its greenhouse gas emissions before the UN climate conference.

earlier related report
Polluters under pressure as US ponders climate talks target
Washington (AFP) Nov 24, 2009 - The United States is to announce concrete targets for cutting greenhouse gas emissions as pressure mounts on polluters to find a formula for success two weeks ahead of a crucial climate summit.

China has put the issue on the agenda of a summit meeting with the European Union next week and leaders of the 53 members of the Commonwealth, representing around two billion people, are set to address it at their weekend gathering in Trinidad.

And Australia, the world's heaviest per capita polluter, is attempting to rush legislation through parliament curbing emissions ahead of the December 7-18 climate conference in Copenhagen.

But experts say the key issue ahead of the summit is uncertainty over what, if anything, the United States will do to reduce global warming, widely considered a major threat to the survival of the planet.

That will become clear within days, US President Barack Obama's administration said late Monday, attempting to remove a major obstacle to the summit goal of finding a global treaty to replace the Kyoto Protocol which expires in 2012.

"Countries will need to put on the table what they are willing to do on emissions," a senior administration official told journalists. "We expect that a decision will be made in the coming days."

On Tuesday Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd urged parliament in Canberra to rush through legislation ahead of the conference that would slash carbon pollution by up to 25 percent by 2020.

And China said that the issue would be on the agenda of a summit with the European Union on Monday in the eastern city of Nanjing.

At its two-yearly summit, the Commonwealth, composed mainly of former British colonies, is to put forward a strong political statement that will address global warming, said the group's Secretary General Kamalesh Sharma.

Australia and China are among 192 countries invited to take part in the Copenhagen conference and so far 65 world leaders have agreed to attend, including from Germany, France and Brazil.

An emissions target from the United States, the world's number two polluter and wealthiest country, was essential for the success of the conference, according to United Nations climate chief Yvo de Boer.

"The key issue here at the moment is the United States. My sense is Obama will be in a position to come to Copenhagen with a target and a financial contribution," he said in Brussels on Monday.

It was unclear what the official US target would be but the administration official said it would not differ much from levels set out in legislation before Congress.

A US House of Representatives bill, passed in June, calls for cutting greenhouse gas emissions by 17 percent from 2005 levels by 2020 and by 83 percent by 2050. A bill before the Senate talks of a 20-percent reduction from 2005 levels by 2020.

The European Union has vowed to reduce its emissions by 20 percent from 1990 levels before 2020, raising the target to 30 percent in the event of an international agreement. Japan has offered 25 percent, but attached conditions.

In order to limit warming to two degrees Celsius (3.6 degrees Fahrenheit), a threshold widely adopted as safe, scientists say emissions by industrialized nations must fall by 25-40 percent by 2020 over 1990 levels.

The United States was the world's biggest carbon emitter until it was overtaken by China in 2006, according to the Global Carbon Project, a consortium of leading climate scientists.

China along with India and other developing nations, is reluctant to commit to binding gas reductions at the Copenhagen talks, arguing that wealthy nations bear historic responsibility for carbon emissions.

Share This Article With Planet Earth

del.icio.us	Digg	Reddit
YahooMyWeb	Google	Facebook

Related Links

Memory Foam Mattress Review

SPACE MEDIA NETWORK PROMOTIONS Solar Energy Solutions Tempur-Pedic Mattress Comparison ... Newsletters :: SpaceDaily :: SpaceWar :: TerraDaily :: Energy Daily XML Feeds :: Space News :: Earth News :: War News :: Solar Energy News