Global Emmissions Soar to New High

Archived News, Posted on 31 May 2011

Global emissions soar to new high
BY CHRIS JOHNSON, CHIEF POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT
31 May, 2011 06:37 AM

The Government's key climate change adviser, Ross Garnaut, will deliver his final climate review update today just hours after it was revealed that global carbon-dioxide emissions hit a record high last year.

Professor Garnaut's update at the National Press Club will call for three independent bodies to oversee Australia's proposed carbon price regime and a carbon bank to administer the taxes gathered from it.

The recommendations come as Opposition Leader Tony Abbott ups his bid for an early election by turning a pro-carbon tax advertising campaign into a call for a return to the polls.

Today's latest Newspoll shows the the Opposition would have won a federal election held last weekend despite a dip in support. In two-party preferred terms, support for the Coalition was 52 per cent to 48 per cent for the Labor Government, from 54-46 per cent a fortnight before.

Meanwhile, as the carbon tax debate rages in Australia, the International Energy Agency said last night that ''energy-related carbon-dioxide emissions in 2010 were the highest in history'' a statistic which dimmed the prospects of limiting the global temperature increase to two degrees Celsius the target agreed upon by world leaders at last year's United Nations climate change talks in Cancun, Mexico.

After a dip in 2009 caused by the global financial crisis, emissions are estimated to have climbed to a record 30.6 gigatonnes, a 5percent jump from the previous record year in 2008, when levels reached 29.3gigatonnes, the IEA said.

The IEA estimated that 80 per cent of projected emissions from the power sector in 2020 were already locked in, as they would come from power plants that were currently in place or under construction today.

Before the IEA figures were issued, Mr Abbott seized on the new ''say yes to a carbon price'' advertisements yesterday featuring actress Cate Blanchett and demanded Prime Minister Julia Gillard say yes to a carbon tax election.

Ignoring accusations of negativity from former Liberal leader John Hewson, Mr Abbott said ordinary Australians should be asked what they thought about the carbon plan. He said the millionaire Hollywood actress had every right to promote her view, but not at the expense of other less well-off Australian