BREAZE

CPRS Update - the long and winding road (to nowhere?)

While the CPRS was passed in the lower house in February, it has been delayed in the Senate until May at the earliest. It remains a shocking package so we've been urging the government to negotiatiate with the Greens on their proposal for a carbon tax. Read our letter to Catherine King and Penny Wong here.

One thing worth mentioning on the CPRS that was negotiated with the Liberals, though, was that purchases of GreenPower were to be counted as additional to the overall emissions cuts. This is something that BREAZE and a number of other groups had campaigned for some time so it was a welcome win for us.

The alternative plan to the CPRS on the table in Canberra has been proposed by the Greens - a $20 carbon tax to run from July 2010-June 2012. This would allow the government to move ahead with the carbon price it wants while the details of a full Emissions Trading Scheme are worked out.

Importantly, it rules out trading in international permits for this period and leaves funds left after compensation payments for crucial spending on mitigation and adaption measures.

This looks to be a sensible way forward and has been supported by Ross Garnaut and the ACF among others. BREAZE has signed on to statement prepared by the Climate Action Centre in Melbourne. You can view the statement, which sets out the benefits of the scheme, here.

We're encouraging members to get the word out about this so please take a couple of moments to use the information below to contact politicians and write letters to your newspapers.

I should point out that BREAZE does not promote particular political parties, it supports good climate policy, no matter which party comes up with it.

In short, Kevin Rudd has two options before him - negotiate with the Greens or negotiate with Tony 'climate change is absolute crap' Abbott. Some choice!

STATEMENT

The Rudd government should back the Greens offer to break the Senate impasse on climate change policy.

The Greens have announced a plan for a $20 tonne fixed carbon price as an alternative to the government's stalled emissions trading scheme.

If the government is really serious about carbon pollution it should stop playing politics and negotiate with the Greens.

The Greens plan has a real chance of passing the Senate, while the government's carbon trading plan does not. It offers a real opportunity to get moving on carbon reductions.

A fixed carbon price is simpler to understand and administer, can be implemented quickly, offers certainty to investors and the public, and will begin to price in renewable energy and squeeze out carbon.

And unlike the emissions trading scheme, which relied on cheap and nasty offset credits traded on the international carbon market, a fixed price will be harder to rort.

The failure at Copenhagen proves that the prospects of any real international agreement is even more remote, making an approach based on emissions trading, which relies on an international market, all the more foolish.

Importantly the plan also removes most of the handouts to the big polluters, while increasing revenue for government investment in mitigation and adaptation both in Australia and internationally.

While a carbon price is only a small part of the solution, it could start a new commitment to solving the carbon pollution problem based on government led investment in renewable energy, energy efficiency and transformation of transport and agriculture.

Lobbying materials

Below is a letter prepared by Deborah Hart of LIVE, a Melbourne-based climate action group. She's happy for it to be cut and pasted into any format you need for communications. Phone numbers of relevant senators are also listed below.

Here are a couple of Letters editors you might like to includes
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Hi Everybody,