Regulation of the carbon market should be taken out of the hands of UN bureaucrats and transferred to a new independent body drawn from central banks and stock exchanges, according to an influential group of legislators. The proposal was among several affecting the carbon market floated at a meeting in Brasilia of the Globe (Global […]

Climate Change Minister Penny Wong has reiterated the Government’s commitment to a long term target as Professor Ross Garnaut released his interim report in the lead up to the introduction of an emissions trading scheme. “Garnaut’s report, his interim report and his final report are an enormously valuable contribution to government policy,” said Wong. “In […]

An increase in renewable energy generation will ensure that Australia complies with its Kyoto Protocol target, the Federal Government has announced. The Department of Climate Change published a report revising the country’s projected greenhouse gas emissions, taking into account planned measures by the Labor government. Climate Change Minister Penny Wong said the analysis shows Australia […]

The Federal Government is reviewing all its climate change related spending programs, worth hundreds of millions of dollars. The Government is assessing whether they will be needed after Australia has established an emissions trading scheme. The aim of the review, according to Finance Minister Lindsay Tanner, is to assess whether the existing patchwork of schemes […]

The US will be home to a US$1 trillion carbon emission market by 2020 if federal and state policymakers continue on their current path toward a comprehensive cap-and-trade program confined to the domestic market, according to a new Carbon Finance Report. The report, which analyses the 13 climate change bills under consideration by Congress, also […]

South Australia has announced a new energy efficiency incentive scheme for households. The government says its Residential Energy Efficiency Scheme will help South Australian households reduce greenhouse gas emissions and lower their energy bills. The scheme will start on 1 January 2009. Under the REES, energy retailers operating in South Australia are required to achieve […]

Australia’s largest off-grid solar power station is set to be built at remote Coober Pedy in far north South Australia. Federal Environment Minister Peter Garrett and South Australian Premier Mike Rann announced the $7.1 million project at the 3rd International Solar Cities Congress in Adelaide. “There will be 26 dishes, each one 14 metres high […]

Total greenhouse gas emissions in the EU-27, excluding emissions and removals from land-use, land use change and forestry (LULUCF), decreased by 0.7 per cent between 2004 and 2005 and by 7.9 per cent between 1990 and 2005, according to the European Energy Agency. Emissions decreased strongly in the new Member States during the 1990s, but […]

The Victorian Government has launched a $1 million Specialist Energy Training Network of local TAFEs to secure a skills base for the state’s power industry.