The Dreyfus Files - The Age
What a striking difference between the UK and Australia in the debate about the carbon price.
The announcement this week that Britain will reduce its emissions by 50 per cent from 1990 levels by 2027 made headlines here, but according to ABC reports, not in Britain.
It seems that a price on carbon is so well established in Britain, where it is common ground among all major parties, government and opposition, that even a major increase in the emissions reduction target is no longer considered headline news.
This reminds me of the comments made by the British High Commissioner to Australia, Baroness Valerie Amos, who said shortly after arriving in Australia to take up her post in 2009, that she was surprised by the negativity of the carbon price debate.
She said: ''It would be great for Australia to be out there and leading the way. Being a resource-rich country does not mean that, in putting in place measures that lead to clean-coal technology and lower emissions, economically you need to fall behind.''
The probable reason for the lack of negativity in Britain is that Britain has had a carbon price since 2002 when emissions trading was introduced there. The UK started with a standalone UK national scheme and then joined the European Union emissions trading scheme when it was set up in 2005.
It is well understood in the UK, and across the European Union, that it is possible to decouple economic growth from emissions; the UK economy has grown by 48 per cent since 1990 while carbon emissions have fallen by 20 per cent. It is also well understood by the conservative UK government that success for developed countries in the 21st century will be found in the emerging low-carbon, clean-energy economy.
This is the basis for the words of Prime Minster David Cameron that "the transition to a low-carbon economy is necessary, real and global. By stepping up, showing leadership and competing with the world, the UK can prove there need not be a tension between green and growth".
One of the reasons that the UK is able to adopt the most ambitious emissions target of any developed country is that it started almost a decade ago.
In fact the UK experience over that decade demonstrates that market mechanisms drive reductions in carbon pollution at least cost, and at the same time create new jobs and opportunities for growth. In the UK there were an estimated 910,000 people employed in the low carbon and environmental goods and services sector in 2008-09, and Britain is now projecting significant further growth in these green jobs on the back of this week's announcement.
It's in Australia's interests to not fall behind the rest of the world as we transition to a low pollution future. Delay will mean that the cost of reducing emissions will be higher when we do eventually get around to it, and it will mean missing out permanently on the opportunities for jobs and investment and growth that the low carbon economy presents.
We should not be afraid of these opportunities – we should grab them with both hands.
