WA: WA wants more assurances on carbon trading impacts

AAP General News (Australia)
08-16-2006
WA: WA wants more assurances on carbon trading impacts

PERTH, Aug 16 AAP - Western Australia will not commit to any form of national greenhouse
gas emissions trading without assurances that the state's interests won't be adversely
affected.

Premier Alan Carpenter says a National Emissions Trading Taskforce discussion paper
on the plan had raised a number of concerns for WA, including how it would impact on the
state economy and consumers' electricity costs.

"I would also want assurances that any trading scheme would not adversely impact the
state's capacity to rely on energy sources such as coal," Mr Carpenter said.

"In addition, there needs to be a reasonable level of acceptance of the national emissions
trading scheme model by WA industry."

These concerns would need to be addressed before we would consider entering a national
emissions trading scheme, he said.

Mr Carpenter said a lack of engagement in the Taskforce by the federal government would
severely weaken the prospects of the proposed scheme being successful.

WA was already playing its part to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by exporting greenhouse-friendly
fuel to some of the world's largest greenhouse-emitting nations, he said.

The discussion paper prepared by state and territory governments on a possible future
national greenhouse gas emissions trading scheme was released today.

Under the scheme, greenhouse gas emissions from Australia's electricity industry would
be capped at between 1997 and 2000 levels by 2035.

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KEYWORD: GREENHOUSE WA

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