What Cost Our Future

In the last few months there have been rallies held all over Australia for and against Government action on Climate Change.

As a person concerned about the environment and social justice I attended a rally for action on Climate Change in the beginning of June at the Brisbane Botanical Gardens, along with a fair number of other people from all walks of life. At that point the Federal Government's Climate Commission report, ‘The Critical Decade: Climate science, risks and responses’ had only just been released but the agreement had not yet been tabled or even reached by the Multi-Party Climate Change Committee, so a plan had yet to be outlined and a price on carbon had not been set.

Such rallies became necessary after counter rallies were organised by those who either deny human induced climate change, have vested interests like the fat cats from the mining industry or were simply not willing to pay the cost and so found any and every excuse in the world why it either won’t work, is not necessary or will cost people their jobs, businesses, financial security and/or their lifestyle, In other words people with a serious case of NIMBY, Not in My Back Yard.

I found it disturbing that there are plenty who are happy for someone else to take action on climate change as long as it doesn’t cost them anything, they won’t have to do anything to change their way of life or have to give up anything.

The truth of the matter is if you keep doing the same thing you cannot possibly expect a different result. So if you agree that climate change is happening, then you have to make changes or allowances to reduce its impact and that will cost.  The greater the change, the higher the cost, so the more you do now to reduce it, the less it will cost to mitigate the effects. It is basic maths, or you can use the old truism, a stitch in time saves nine.

There are also those that argue that there is no point for Australia to go it alone, why should we be first. The fact is we are not the first to act, if anything we are lagging behind. The EU have had a carbon trading scheme for quite some time and while it may not be perfect, it’s at least something, we can learn from it.

Countries such as China which many have claimed as a resource hungry growing economy which will have a greater affect on climate change does not have a carbon tax or a carbon trading scheme but it is not a free enterprise or democratic country. It doesn’t need to encourage businesses to cut carbon or to seek more environmentally friendly options, it just dictates and businesses have to comply. Even so China has made considerable advances in alternative energy and environmental industries and has built projects which have become a showcase for what is possible now. China is aware of its environmental responsibility and while growing its economy posses some problems, what it has already implemented has made it a leader which should put the rest of the world to shame.

Now the government in Australia has put forward its plan for a clean energy future which starts from 1^st July 2012. This is when Australia’s biggest polluters, approximately 500 companies will be charged a price on the carbon they produce.

Naturally it is assumed that many of these companies will pass on this cost to its consumers but a large percentage of the money collected will be paid back to individuals and families via tax cuts, pension increases and higher family payments to help mitigate these increases. The rest will be invested in clean energy technology and to support jobs.

Initially the carbon price of $23 per tonne of carbon pollution will be charged though this is set to increase by 2.5 per cent. In 2015 the government set carbon price will move to a market-based emissions trading scheme. This is expected to reduce the economic impact of going directly to an ETS.

Of course the less carbon these companies produce the less they will have to pay and the less it will cost all of us in the long run. These companies will not change their operations unless it is in their best interest. When you talk about companies valued in the millions with established operations and procedures that work well to bring in massive profits, dangling a carrot will not be enough to encourage the required changes. But once these changes are implemented, the less carbon they produce, an ETS or carbon tax will become irrelevant.

If you are in Australia and you want more information about how this carbon tax will affect you, go to the government website: www.cleanenergyfuture.gov.au

Another site I find quite interesting is the ABCs climate change site www.abc.net.au/news/events/climate-change

 There is a lot of advertising being paid for by some of these large polluting companies such as mining, manufacturing and transport companies in an effort to create fear and discontentment to try and get the public to protest and reject these changes. As a result the federal government has been force to spend an exorbitant amount to explain the scheme and to allay people’s fears but it is still a challenge. It is a lot easier to instil fear than to convince them that everything will turn out fine.

Needless to say the year ahead will be an interesting one. Will self interest prevail or will we take a bold step into a cleaner greener future, only time will tell.