Just at the time Australia is launching into an emissions trading scheme, the EU one appears to be faltering. Eek. In this post we’ve collected links to articles and videos on the European scheme and the political stoush that’s happening here in Oz. (We predict it’s only a matter of time before the Opposition here cotton on to the European failings.) And of course there’s the question of – what the hell is an emssions trading scheme anyway? Plenty of people wouldn’t have the foggiest. We explain here at the end. Click on.

It’s all set to hot up due to the timelines the Australian Government has set itself – to introduce the scheme by mid-2010. The Climate Minister Penny Wong should be unveiling the new legislation next month or so. And in a strange twist, the Greens have sided with the Conservatives to force a Senate Inquiry. So we’re bound to see more of this in the news. And more time lost. Plus, to complicate things, at the end of the year we have the big meeting in Copenhagen where the nations of the world come together to hammer out a post-Kyoto agreement.

Related articles:
The collapsing carbon market in Europe is making mega-pollution dirt cheap (The Guardian)
Emissions Trading scheme explained by Ross Gittins (Herald)
Our collection of news stories on carbon emissions & emissions trading

Video:
The EU’s emissions trading scheme
How carbon trading could solve global warming

Audio:
Here’s an old podcast interview we did with Matt Dever from Emit Brokers explaining how carbon trading works.

Photo:
Coal power plant photo courtesy of Wigwam Jones on flickr.

Check out this video which reminds us how easy it is to make noises about climate change. But what about doing something about it?

Here in Australia the Rudd government initially talked up the importance of dealing with climate change but then committed to relatively small cuts in Greenhouse gas emissions.

Now a groundswell of community action groups are rallying to put pressure on the government to do more.

Two hundred community action groups from around the country are coming together in the nation’s capital Canberra for a climate action summit from 31 January to 3 February. The event will culminate in a peaceful protest at Parliment House on the 3rd. Word has it they intend to form a human chain around Parliment House. Tuesday the 3rd is the first sitting day of Parliment following the summer break, so you can expect this story to be all over the news then.

Useful links:
If you want more info or want to get involved in the Canberra protest, go to www.climatesummit.org.au. There’s also more in our events section.

Related articles:
Giving up on climate change? (Online Opinion)
Green groups damn paper on climate change (Sydney Morning Herald)

Video credit:
Time to Lead! (Time to Lead is a collaborative campaign from the Climate Action Network, Friends of the Earth, Greenpeace and WWF in Europe.)

It’s less than a year until the major UN climate change meeting in Copenhagen – where the nations of the world are meant to settle on an agreement that will take us the next step on from the Kyoto Protocol. In the lead-up to Copenhagen, nations have been meeting at Poznan in Poland to prepare the ground.

One of the many issues in the climate debate has been how to halt rampant deforestation in developing countries. Destruction of forests is a significant contributor to global warming. It’s thought to be up to 20% of the problem.

But how do we get poor countries to stop chopping down their trees when they need money for the basics we take for granted – like food and education? And as some in the developing world would argue, why should they stop when the West has already done the deed on its own forests.

On the sidelines of Poznan green groups are pitching their own solutions. In the following interview, we examine an interesting proposal from Greenpeace on deforestation. It proposes that the money generated from auctioning pollution permits in Developed countries be used to encourage Developing countries to keep their trees.

Audio: Paul Winn is Greenpeace’s ‘Forests for Climate’ campaigner. He’s speaking with Carolin Wenzel about Greenpeace’s deforestation proposal . Paul is on the ground in Poznan Poland.

Useful links:
Official 2009 Copenhagen Meeting website
Background on the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change
Greenpeace’s Forests for Climate Report “Preserving Paradise”
Greenpeace Poznan blog
Oxfam’s Climate Change Campaign

Video:
UNFCCC Exec Sec Yvo de Boer explains what the conference is meant to achieve. And MIA President Elect Obama gives us his thoughts on climate change.

Articles:
The spin sounds good in theory, but as we’re hearing from Poznan, the reality of these climate talks is somewhat different. Check out this recent article from The Age – ‘Hot air but little else at global climate talks’. No surprise really when you get that many bureaucrats and politicians in one place.

See also this BBC article ‘Peru says it can reach zero deforestation in 10 years with funds from the West’.

Photo:
Let the hot air begin. The UN Climate Change Conference opening. Shot by Piotr Fajfer from Oxfam International. And you can see the reality of third wild forest logging at Phil’s photo favourites.

So what will be the fate of the Greenpeace proposal? Maybe it will plant the seed.

A decade ago Germanys uptake of solar energy was on par with Australia. But thanks to an innovative financial incentive, Germany has surged ahead. So much so, its renewable energy is now a mainstream industry and a leading employer in that country.

Audio: Markus Lambert explains the effect the electricity feed-in tariff has had in Germany.

A key driver of renewables in Germany has been the introduction of an electricity feed-in tariff. The scheme views households and businesses producing renewable energy as mini-power stations and pays them for the power they generate.

Here in Australia, Victoria and South Australia have recently introduced versions of the tariff, and one is about to launch in the ACT. New South Wales is yet to try the scheme, but the State Opposition has vowed to implement one if it’s elected in 2011.

Markus Lambert is a German now working for local renewable energy firm Energy Matters. In this podcast he explains the effect the feed-in tariff has had in Germany.

Useful link: The Energy Matters website explains the difference between a net feed-in tariff and a gross feed-in tariff. And what each of the state governments in Australia are offering. The renewables industry is pushing for a gross feed-in tariff.

And we have these videos from the Garnaut Forum. In fact you can even rate what he has to say. In this video, the good professor lashes out at the sceptics (in his own gentile way):

Here’s what Ross said when asked why Australia should act when other countries aren’t:

And here’s what Professor Garnaut had to say about compensating the coal industry:

Watch the FuelWatch commercial.

Listen to this independent rating of our political parties.

The interview was just prior to the election last year. Following the success of Labor in the election, Peter Garrett has become Australia’s Environment Minister.

(If you’re reading this from outside Australia, you may know Garrett as the lead singer of the band Midnight Oil. After many years of activism on environmental issues, including a stint as head of the Australian Conservation Foundation, Garrett re-invented himself as a politician.)

The day of the election at the end of 2007, I went to a polling both to gauge the mood of the people – for change generally and to check the importance of the environment in their decision making. Listen here to what they had to say: election day vox pops.

The booth was at Sydney’s Bondi Beach in the contentious seat of Wentworth. Wentworth was held by Malcolm Turnbull – who was at that stage Environment Minister.