Inconvenient truths scuff Canberra's gloss

THE Gillard government has crafted polished reasoning to support the introduction of a carbon tax, based on Australia playing its fair part in a global community effort to combat climate change.

The government's position is built on three foundations: the updated report from economist Ross Garnaut that says Australia has a responsibility to take action; confirmation from its chief science adviser, Will Steffen, that scientific concerns are well grounded; and last week's Productivity Commission report that found a market-based scheme was the most economically efficient response.

The combined messages from these three sources were yesterday synthesised into a glossy fact sheet to justify the government's proposed course of action.

The document sets out Australia's position as the world's biggest carbon emitter in per capita terms and sets out that Australia will not be acting alone. Missing, however, are some of the more inconvenient truths that surround the government's argument.

These include the perishing of any lingering hopes of a second-round Kyoto agreement. Canada last week joined Japan and Russia in pulling out; the US was never in.

Meanwhile, the UN Environmental Program and the International Energy Agency have stated that global action is well short of what is needed to limit global temperature rises to the desired 2C.

The World Bank has declared that the global carbon trading market stalled last year.

In countries where action has been announced, implementation remains less than certain.

In the US, there is no federal cap-and-trade scheme and it is unlikely the clean energy standard will pass because of lack of congressional support.

There appears to be bipartisan congressional support for a two-year suspension of the Environmental Protection Agency's authority to regulate greenhouse gas emissions under the Clean Air Act.

Contrary to some optimistic forecasts in Australia, state-based initiatives, including in California, appear to have been overstated.

In Canada, there is no federal support for a cap-and-trade system; instead, the national government favours direct action against coal-fired power stations. In Japan, the ETS proposal has met strong opposition. Russia's action is predicated on the inclusion of forestry. Korea has postponed its cap-and-trade scheme until 2015.

And India, China, Brazil and South Africa have all proposed non-binding targets.

The stalling of the global carbon trading market is an ominous sign for Australia's ambitions.

Nicholas Linacre, an Australian academic and carbon specialist who worked as lead author on the World Bank report on the state of the carbon trading market last year, says no other country has proposed the level of action or coverage that Australia has.