Australia shelves Cap and Trade until 2011. ABC's Peter Mares asks David Spratt of Climate Code Red and Ted Nordhaus of the Breakthrough Institute for their take on the need for a government supported clean energy push.
Stream it directly from the ABC News Australia site, or download the mp3 here (particularly if you're a Mac/Linux user).
From Peter Mares at ABC Australia National Radio:
"This week, Prime Minister Kevin Rudd announced changes to the Australian federal government's planned emissions trading scheme, postponing the start date, increasing the compensation for big polluters and promising deeper cuts to Australia's greenhouse gases (with the proviso that the rest of the world does the right thing). The result is a scheme that's both greener and browner - if such a thing were possible. But as we examine the pros and the cons of the decision, some argue it's all pointless anyway. Climate change sceptics dispute the need for any reductions at all; then there's the critique from sections of the environmental movement that an emissions trading scheme is like rearranging deckchairs on the Titantic: far too little, far too late. On the program today, we're going to hear the case for state intervention - the idea of a Marshall Plan for alternative energy in which public money is used to solve the global warming problem."
See more on the Breakthrough's take on this issue here: Australia Shelves Cap and Trade Until 2011.
