At a glance: The amended ETS

24 November 2009 | 01:53:29 PM | Source: SBS

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Kevin Rudd has handed out an extra $7 billion in compensation to win Coalition backing of his emissions trading scheme. (Getty Images)

The coal industry, electricity generators and farmers are the big winners from an emissions trading deal struck between the Rudd government and the opposition leadership.

GOVERNMENT'S ANNOUNCEMENT

The deal will cost an extra $7.02 billion by 2019, with the Government suggesting it would involve extra spending of $1.28 billion over the next four years.

Prime Minister Kevin Rudd wants the scheme passed this week, in time for the Copenhagen climate change talks next month.

Originally, emissions-intensive trade-exposed industries were given a global recession buffer, but these have now been made permanent.

Agriculture excluded

Climate Change Minister Penny Wong confirmed that agriculture was excluded from the compromise deal and said there would also be more incentives for households to cut their emissions.

Coal industry given concessions

The assistance to the coal industry has been doubled to $1.5 billion.

The Government has also offered $270 million to to help coal mines reduce emissions.

In addition, the current COAG Renewable Energy Target (RET) review process will consider whether new waste coal mine gas projects should be eligible for compensation.

Assistance for mining businesses

A transitional electricity cost assistance program of $1.1 billion will be established to assist medium and large manufacturing and mining businesses with scheme-related increases in electricity prices.

Voluntary action by households taken into account

The Government says it will ensure the ETS takes into account voluntary action by households. 

The scheme will be amended to ensure that all existing and future purchases of GreenPower will be counted, allowing Australia to go beyond its 2020 emissions reduction target, Mr Rudd said.

Electricity sector 

There is increased assistance of $4 billion to the electricity sector.

A further three new measures - a Low Emissions Transition Incentive, an Energy Security Assurance Mechanism and deferred payment arrangements - will be introduced to maintain energy security and drive the transition to a low pollution future.

Help for food processors

And under additional proposed measures food processors are set to get $150 million in assistance and changes have been made to the compensation package for households.

Your Comments

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02 Dec 2009 13:01 AEST

Justinian

From: Mexico

Mr

Why is it that "controlled weather manipulation" has not entered the climate change debate? We cloud seed here and there, we emit sonar frequencies into our oceans which disrupt the movement cycle of whales, we make sure that we have no rain clouds when we hold major events in our cities, we beam energy into our ionosphere (ref: HAARP project in Alaska) for military purposes.......So in the end, are our car emissions really worth mentioning?

Agree (2 people agree)
Disagree (0 people disagree)
 

02 Dec 2009 12:41 AEST

Kat

From: Sydney

what nonsense

I'm still surprised how many have been conned by this climate change crap. Yes we are responsible for poluting, that's a given! There are natural climate cycles that have always been here - it just so happens that we have three overlapping at the same time. There is a 13, 100 and 1,000 year climate cycle. The Aboriginals knew about these cycles, why is that no one else seems to know or care? I suspect there's alot of people making money from all this...

Agree (1 people agree)
Disagree (0 people disagree)
 

30 Nov 2009 19:24 AEST

derek

From: adelaide

del

climate change is not caused by humans but by natural climatic cycles.the climate argument is only a means of controling people.

Agree (6 people agree)
Disagree (15 people disagree)
 

30 Nov 2009 13:02 AEST

Roscoe

From: USA

International Scam

Global warming has been revealed to be a scam – especially now that nature is doing global cooling instead! seems. The political elite wishes to foist on voters, lies & falsehoods to get their way over their AGW scam. Carbon trading is an easy source of revenue & political favoritism for these politicians whose only true interest is for themselves & their full pockets – not the voters who have to pay ever-increasing taxes to fill their corrupt pockets.

Agree (9 people agree)
Disagree (11 people disagree)
 

28 Nov 2009 21:00 AEST

Attack from Mars

From: Reality

The Internet Army

They have been called to war, the internet army of GW skeptic fanatics are trolling the sites posting their senseless drivel on every website possible. Interesting to note, NZ climate sceptic org was recently outted for fudging base climate observational data to make it look like tempreatures had never changed in last 100 years. So this is what happens when scientific data is released to skeptics.. I see where the UK scientists in "climate gate" were coming from.

Agree (7 people agree)
Disagree (3 people disagree)
 

28 Nov 2009 20:49 AEST

Max

From: Sydney

We don't need ETS

Human activites contribute slightly to greenhouse gas concentrations through farming, manufacturing, power generation, and transportation. However, these emissions are so dwarfed in comparison to emissions from natural sources we can do nothing about, that even the most costly efforts to limit human emissions would have a very small-- perhaps undetectable-- effect on global climate.

Agree (8 people agree)
Disagree (8 people disagree)
 

27 Nov 2009 14:49 AEST

Damian

From: Coorparoo

IPCC

The IPCC is being revealed as we speak to be a vast academic fraud. IPCC is a small club who refused to share data with any of the many scientists who they deemed "skeptics", illegally destroyed data and refused to comply with freedom of information requests . Their email database was recently hacked. Please examine the evidence and spread the word because there are too many vested corporate/media/political interests invested in this who are attempting to keep the public from the truth.

Agree (11 people agree)
Disagree (6 people disagree)
 

27 Nov 2009 14:25 AEST

Ternt

From: Punchbowl

ETS does nothing for the environment. Block this tax from getting through.

ETS does nothing for the environment. Block this tax from getting through.

Agree (11 people agree)
Disagree (4 people disagree)
 

26 Nov 2009 21:13 AEST

Jim

From: Nth Sydney

At the very least,

The ETS & Copenhagen should be put on hold whilst "climategate is investigated. There should be rigorous investigation into mounting evidence that top climate scientists conspired to manipulate data to hide evidence of global cooling while engaging in academic witch hunts to eliminate scientists skeptical of man-made climate change. Politicians and bias-driven climate scientists affiliated with the UN IPCC to fraudulently “cook the science” to conform to their agenda.'

Agree (12 people agree)
Disagree (6 people disagree)
 

25 Nov 2009 16:07 AEST

JJSTEALL

From: Adelaide

I'M NOT SURPRISED ALL!

WOW! With all these concessions given to the polluters, what's the point! The ETS is meaningless and a joke from the start I'm disgusted with the lack of concern and now the truth is out! The ETS is a taxing scheme to rob the consumer. In the Government there are gutless cowards whom are suffering from a disease called Stockholm syndrome and as a consequence have fallen in love with their captor. Let it be said and let it be written.

Agree (26 people agree)
Disagree (3 people disagree)
 
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