Upon the release of Prime Minister Julia Gillard’s carbon price package (to take effect July 1, 2012), there has been talk aplenty of her plummeting popularity. The PM has dismissed the commentary in favour of the scheme’s necessity, saying, “Polls will come and go… I’m absolutely convinced what I’m doing’s right.” The scores of people supporting action on climate change undoubtedly applaud this stance. For its part, Beyond Zero Emissions welcomes PM Gillard’s carbon price package as a positive step toward weaning Australia off fossil fuels. However, BZE holds some reservations regarding how the scheme will play out once it is implemented. These reservations predominantly concern the role the carbon price package will assign fossil gas-fired power, and the amount of faith Labor places in the market to bring about the mass deployment of large-scale renewable power. Let us recognise the distinctions here.
The first and most pressing message BZE hopes to bring to attention is the need to avoid encouraging a big shift to gas power. Part of Gillard’s scheme includes that 2000MWe of coal-fired power will be shut down by tender to be replaced by clean energy by 2020.
See full
Article.
Posts
