China's zero emissions target puts Australia on notice (excerpts): The Age

 

Flag: Peoples Republic of China

"Australia's former top climate diplomat has warned China's net-zero emissions target will leave Australia behind, threatening future trade deals and its influence in the Pacific as the Morrison government becomes wedged between the US and China on climate action.

Howard Bamsey, who was Australia's special envoy on climate change during the Rudd government, said the announcement from President Xi Jinping last week had turned the politics of emissions reduction into a sharp economic and diplomatic issue.

Renewables consumption by region

Exajoules

*Commonwealth of Independent States

Source: BP Statistical Review of World Energy 2020

 

Professor Bamsey, who was also Australia's ambassador for the environment under the Howard government, said the new policy "pulls the rug out from under the argument" that Australia's domestic climate goals do not need to accelerate because China was yet to increase its ambitions.

"It's clear now China is accepting a leadership role," he said. "Xi made the announcement. That carries all the weight of the state and party.".."

..............

".. Professor Bamsey said the UK, European Union and a potential Biden presidency will pressure Australia to match their climate goals ahead of Glasgow.

"We are an internationally connected economy and we will have to adopt the policies of our trading partners, including our main partner in China," he said. "We won't be able to continue to provide goods and services and ignore the climate dimension.".."

.....................

".. The director of the European Union's Centre of Excellence at RMIT, Bruce Wilson, said China's pledge would increase pressure on Australia as it attempts to negotiate free trade deals with the EU and Britain.

"If anyone is trying to do a trade deal with the EU, the Paris deal is non-negotiable," he said.

Professor Wilson said it was still not clear if the EU would accept Australia's use of Kyoto carryover credits to meet its obligations and said a "carbon border tax" was on the agenda for countries not compliant with the EU's environmental standards.

"If you are exporting an emissions heavy product into Europe there will be a tax on that," he said.

"Chief negotiators from the EU and Australia were expected to brief stakeholders about progress on the trade deal on Wednesday afternoon. ..."

Go to The Age article  

 

 Related: Class action to stop planned coal mine extension filed by climate action-focused Australian teenagers (excerpt): ABC

 

carbon tariffs,European Union,China,impose trade tariffs on carbon offenders,coal,#renewables,#Australia,#climatechange,

 

 

Carbon tariffs: an instrument for tackling climate change?: AXA

Carbon Tariffs: Another Name for Green Protectionism?

A Carbon Tariff model that might be acceptable to developing countries

Carbon tariffs are a tax on carbon-intensive imports, which recently triggered heated international debates. Certain industrialized countries have been advocating the adoption of carbon tariffs on products imported from developing countries, such as China. 

According to Marco Springmann, a physicist turned economist, the main reason is that certain rich nations have implemented binding targets to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, while poorer countries have so far resisted legal commitments. Additionally, because many of them simply do not set a price on carbon, they can produce cheaper carbon-intensive goods. Promoters of carbon tariffs thus think that taxing such goods at the border will make up for this difference in price and indirectly regulate the associated emissions.

However, almost a quarter of China’s CO2 emissions come from its

exports. So China and other nations view carbon tariffs as trade sanctions and protectionism. They even threatened to start a “trade war” if such schemes were to be put into place. They stress the role that carbon emissions have played in the industrialization of advanced economies and demand increased financial aid in order to reduce their emissions.

Carbon tariffs to finance clean development

To avoid this coming carbon war, Springmann proposes to recycle the tax revenues from carbon tariffs (claimed in the importing country) to the exporting country as investments in climate change mitigation and adaptation measures. This coupled scheme addresses the concerns about competitiveness and reducing emissions in one part of the world and economic progress in the other. Since it acknowledges the demand for imports as an emissions-causing factor, it may therefore represent a consensus solution within a global climate policy. According to Springmann, a preliminary assessment has indicated that the revenue from this scheme would range between $8 and $50 billion per year, depending on the price of carbon. In comparison, at the climate summit in Copenhagen in 2009, it was agreed to create a “Fast Start Fund” to support climate adaptation and clean technology in developing countries. The pledged contribution is $30 billion over the next three years. Carbon tariffs would add significant revenue streams to this effort."

Go to original AXA article by Marco Springmann (3 years)


 Related: Young people’s burden: requirement of negative CO2 emissions: Hansen et al


carbon tariffs, carbon footprint, impose trade tariffs on carbon offenders, carbon trading, climate catastrophe, #economy,

Draining the nation's energy: how Canberra lags industry on green power (excerpt): SMH

BHP seeks buyers for coal mines, oil fields in portfolio shake-up

"Australia is host to a stranded asset. That is, something once valuable that is now worthless as events have moved on.

 

We call it Canberra. Specifically, Parliament House. Even more specifically, the federal energy and climate debate.

The rest of the country has moved on. The Coalition government and the Labor opposition are both policy anachronisms stuck in a cul de sac of dead arguments.

"The Minister for Energy and the Environment in the Liberal government of NSW, Matt Kean, has a message for Canberra:

'The community has moved on, the market has moved on, capital

Carbon tariffs will soon impact on trade.

has moved on," he tells me. "The only people standing in the way are those defending vested interests, the beneficiaries of the fossil fuel industry. Those MPs are defending Blockbuster in a Netflix world.' "

"As Kean's comments demonstrate, Australia's state governments are moving on, too. Including Liberal ones. Consider four of the developments in the real world – the digital world of Kean's metaphor, as opposed to the vintage-model videotape – in Australia in just the past four days.

Our Renewable Future

On Tuesday, the world's biggest mining company, BHP Billiton, announced its plans to sell off all its thermal coal mines, the type of coal burned to make electricity, within two years. It's also selling down some of its other carbon-intensive assets and has committed to net-zero carbon emissions from its operations by 2050. Executive pay is now linked to meeting the firm's emissions targets.

Climate Criminals

"On Thursday, the National Farmers Federation announced its members had voted to adopt an economy-wide policy of net-zero carbon emissions by 2050. The peak farm industry body has long been one of the most politically conservative lobbies in the land. "There is a huge potential for Australia to be a global leader in low-emissions agriculture," said the NFF president, Fiona Simson. Some farm sectors are well ahead in cutting their own emissions – the red meat industry has committed to net zero by 2030.

On Friday, the big Australian insurance firm Suncorp announced it would no longer invest in, finance or insure any new oil and gas ventures. That's on top of its policy banning dealings with new thermal coal. It has pledged to phase out all its thermal coal exposures within five years.

Climate Criminals

Also on Friday, it was reported that Australia's biggest electricity generator, AGL, had lodged planning documents disclosing its first concrete steps towards shutting its coal-fired Liddell power station in 2022. The big Liddell generators in NSW's Hunter Valley are almost 50 years old. The plant is past its useful life. AGL, Australia's No. 1 emitter, has committed itself to net-zero emissions by 2050. It, too, will link executive pay to meeting its emissions target."

Read the original August 21, 2020, SMH article 

Related: Revealed: how the gas industry is waging war against climate action (excerpt) : The Guardian

#climatechange, carbon addiction, #carbonstorage, #climatecriminals, #corporations, #farming, #economy, #fossilfuelcompanies, #trade-tariffs-on carbon-offenders