Carbon Trading No Emissions Solution
May 29th, 2008
There are many scams which rear their ugly heads from time to time more often than not claiming to cure some problem or another and it appears as though the Govt’s Emissions Trading Scheme is just such a scam. It is hard to fathom exactly how it will cut emissions particularly in the transport sector as it stands at present. Merely penalising people or companies for burning fossil fuels when they themselves or freight moves about is not necessarily going to see a reduction in vehicle use if the availability of alternative modes of transport are basically non-existent. It will just boost costs.
More Positive Incentives. If the Govt is serious about cutting emissions from the transport sector then it needs to switch the investment focus from road building to alternative modes of transport and back it up with changes to town planning regulations to ensure business parks which generate large volumes of freight can be accessed by rail as well as road transport. There should also be incentives in place to assist in the scrapping of old fuel inefficient trucks. Also how about assisting the introduction of the new range of non-polluting hybrid and electric commercial vehicles which are now coming on stream world-wide?
See The Wood For The Trees. At a more general level instead of looking at ways to penalise individuals and businesses, scrap the pointless Emissions Trading Scheme and instead channel funds into converting the millions of hectares of marginal hill country currently grazing sheep for very poor returns and causing ongoing erosion problems into carbon sink forests. This would be simple, effective and avoid the inevitable huge expansion in bureaucracy needed to administer any compulsory carbon trading scheme.
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