The Canberra Times: Markets to punish a nation in climate denial

Australia's exports risk being hit with carbon taxes on overseas markets unless the Federal Government acts quickly to put a price on emissions, a University of Melbourne science think tank says.

Exports such as metals, minerals, agriculture and manufactured goods will be affected by carbon penalties to be imposed on imports under the European Union's proposed carbon tax, Beyond Zero Emissions spokesman Matthew Wright said.

The warning comes as the Federal Government-appointed Climate Commission has published its first report, saying the world is warming faster than expected. One of the report's authors, Australian National University climate scientist Professor Will Steffen, said Australia ''no longer had the luxury any more of climate denialism'' and called for an end to ''the fruitless phoney debate'' over the reality of climate change and the science supporting it.

The report said climate science was ''being attacked in the media by many with no credentials in the field'' and attempts to intimidate climate scientists ''have added to the confusion'' in public debate.

Prime Minister Julia Gillard told Parliament yesterday the peer-reviewed report confirmed ''action is needed on climate change''.

Ms Gillard accused Opposition Leader Tony Abbott of ''staying in climate change denial'' and supporting a climate action plan that former Howard government environment minister Malcolm Turnbull ''has rightly said can't work and would be hugely costly'

But Mr Abbott said the report supported his plan for tackling climate change through storing carbon in the landscape.

''What we have seen from the Climate Commission is actually a tick of approval for direct action as a rapid way of getting our emissions down,'' he said.

During a visit yesterday to Queanbeyan welding business Weldcraft, Mr Abbott said the company would pay an extra $4000 for electricity and steel under the Government's carbon tax.

''This is a toxic tax. Toxic for jobs, toxic for small business and toxic for people's cost of living,'' he said.

But Federal Climate Change Minister Greg Combet said the company would not be affected by a carbon price.

''The Opposition Leader's mindless, mobile scare campaign only gets more and more detached from reality as each day passes. The truth is less than 1000 big polluters will pay the carbon price and Weldcraft is not one of them,'' Mr Combet said.

Beyond Zero Emissions, an independent energy think tank affiliated with the University of Melbourne, has urged the Government to move quickly to ''decarbonise the economy'' or risk being left behind on global markets.

Mr Wright said Australia was ''playing in a sunset market'' by looking to boost export growth in coal and gas.

Australian National University climate law centre co-director Andrew Macintosh said it was time for the Federal Government to move beyond ''bickering over the science''.

''We need to move fast to get emissions down, and by now we should have moved on from arguing over the science and be talking about regulatory frameworks for a carbon price,'' Mr Macintosh said.

Global emissions needed to decline by 7 per cent a year from 2030 to avoid dangerous climate change, and Australia would need an emission reduction target of ''at least 30 per cent by 2020,'' he said.

University of Adelaide climate institute director Professor Barry Brook said putting a price on carbon was ''only part of the picture'' of addressing climate change. Professor Brook said the the collapse of ''Band-Aid fixes'' like the Federal Government's home insulation scheme and green loans program had fuelled public mistrust of a carbon tax.

''I think these schemes gave people the wrong impression that all they needed to do was make imperceptible adjustments to cut emissions. They were misleading, and wrong.''