Antinuclear

“What is clear in the green paper is that there is no requirement for business to reduce carbon pollution,” Mr Burke said. “The policy offers no response for businesses that increase pollution.”

No penalty for carbon polluters GRAHAM LLOYD THE AUSTRALIAN, 7 JAN 14  COMPANIES will not be punished if they fail to meet their carbon emissions targets under the Coalition’s Direct Action plan.

Instead, the government will introduce “flexible compliance arrangements”, some of which are more generous than those argued for by industry.

Federal Environment Minister Greg Hunt told The Australian yesterday the Direct Action scheme, outlined in a green paper now open for comment, was not designed to be punitive.

But acting opposition environment spokesman Tony Burke said Direct Action was “a dressed-up slush fund, which is ineffective and costly”.

“What is clear in the green paper is that there is no requirement for business to reduce carbon pollution,” Mr Burke said. “The policy offers no response for businesses that increase pollution.”

Under the Direct Action proposal, companies would be expected to meet individual baseline targets for carbon dioxide emissions. To reduce national emissions, the federal government would purchase the lowest cost carbon abatement from a range of projects under a reverse auction scheme.

A set amount of money had been set aside to buy carbon abatement to meet the national commitment to reduce CO2 emissions by 5 per cent below 2000 levels by 2020.

The federal government has been widely criticised for using taxpayers’ money to buy carbon emission reductions, as opposed to Labor’s carbon tax, which raises money direct from business…….

A key issue would be how to encourage business to meet its emissions targets.

Failure by individual companies to meet baseline targets would increase the task for the federal government, and taxpayers, to meet Australia’s national target. But the green paper said the government had a clear objective not to raise revenue from companies that did not meet their carbon-reduction target…….

http://www.theaustralian.com.au/national-affairs/policy/no-penalty-for-carbon-polluters/story-e6frg6xf-1226796174066#