ETS voted down in the Senate

By Angela Dorizas The Rudd Government’s emissions trading scheme has been voted down in the Senate. The Carbon Pollution Reduction Scheme (CPRS) bill was defeated by 41 to 33 votes. Liberal Senators Sue Boyce and Judith Troeth crossed the floor to vote with the Government. Independent Senators Nick Xenophon, and Family First’s Steve Fielding joined […]

Calls for organic waste policy

By Angela Dorizas The Federal Government needs to set a national target on organic waste recovery and rapidly increase greenhouse gas capture on landfill sites, according to the Waste Management Association of Australia (WMAA). Speaking at the Zero Waste Summit in Sydney yesterday, WMAA NSW president, Mike Ritchie, urged governments to develop policies that would […]

NSW leads on solar tariffs

By Staff Writer The New South Wales Government’s scheme to reward households for the solar energy they produce has been hailed as one of the most generous solar feed-in tarriffs in the country. Premier Nathan Rees said the NSW Solar Bonus Scheme would deliver the most generous payments to families in the country. “A gross scheme is […]

Cities could deliver greater emissions reduction than the CPRS

By Angela Dorizas Australian cities could halve their greenhouse gas emissions over the next 20 years by implementing a targeted strategy similar to the City of Sydney’s Sustainable Sydney 2030 plan, a new study has found. In research commissioned by the City of Sydney, climate change consultancy company Kinesis found that actions outlined in the […]

Logan City powers down

By Rachel Borchardt Councils need to cut down on their energy usage if they want the community to follow suit, according to Logan City councillor Darren Power. “If people see the local council not trying, they’re not going to try,” Power says. Logan City Council, Queensland’s third most populous city bordering Brisbane to the north […]

Legacy emissions excluded from CPRS

By Angela Dorizas The Federal Government has removed legacy emissions generated by waste landfill from the Carbon Pollution Reduction Scheme. The decision to exclude greenhouse gas emissions from waste deposited prior to the CPRS commencement, known as ‘legacy’ emissions, was announced by Parliamentary Secretary for Climate Change, Greg Combet, last week. “Liability for landfill emissions […]

Infrastructure critical for future waste management

By Angela Dorizas The waste management industry has called for government intervention and investment in alternative waste technologies to prevent carbon pricing from crippling local communities. Speaking at the New South Wales Sustainable Development Conference in Sydney, state president of the Waste Management Association of Australia, Mike Ritchie, warned that without government intervention the increasing volume […]

Call for voluntary actions to be recognised

By Angela Dorizas The Mayor of Leichhardt Municipal Council has called on the Federal Government to recognise voluntary reductions in greenhouse gas emissions. Speaking at the ICLEI Oceania state forum, Mayor Jamie Parker called on councils to join with Leichhardt Municpal Council and the Total Environment Centre to campaign for voluntary emissions reductions to be separated from other actions that […]

ETS delay not a bad thing, says ALGA

By Rob O’Brien A delayed Emissions Trading System (ETS) will give the Federal Government more time to iron out some of the technical problems with the policy, according to the Australian Local Government Association (ALGA). Prime Minister Kevin Rudd announced this morning that the Government’s ETS would be delayed until 2011. The government had planned to introduce the scheme […]

Carbon scheme too expensive for Sydneysiders

By Staff Writer Sydney residents are not prepared to pay anywhere near the expected costs of the Federal Government’s Carbon Pollution Reduction Scheme (CPRS), according to a survey by the Australian National University. The study conducted by PhD student Sonia Akter and Professor Jeff Bennett from the ANU Crawford School of Economics and Government compared […]

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