A few notes on climate policy

Climate change is a major issue which needs major action. About ten years too late, the Liberal-occupied Federal Government has just started running some of the more intelligent government advertising it's produced.

As far as policy goes, we should no more trust anything Mr Howard says on climate change than on his intentions vis-a-vis Mr Costello. It is abundantly clear that Mr Howard's psychology makes him disinclined to take real action as he is part of a mining magnate's club and hence is totally unsuited to the job. Mr Rudd's credentials aren't too much better, but at least he shows a willingness to apply himself to factual information rather than believe what a bunch of suits told him.

Policy-wise, we have the Libs offering: 'a successsor to Kyoto', nuclear power (not on line for at least a decade) and lukewarm support for geothermal power, while scrapping the MRET targets.

The ALP bring to the table: 50% emission target by 2050 and an emissions trading scheme 2 years earlier than Libs and ratification of Kyoto but no word on global diplomacy.

Both parties agree on clean coal technology, support for solar water heating programs.

For any climate policy to be worth its salt it must address the problem. That first requires one to establish precisely what the problem is and what action needs to be taken. On climate change the key factor to establish is the sustainable level of CO2 emissions in the atmosphere. This should be based on:

1. The level to prevent feedback mechanisms creating an unstoppable cycle and hence making the planet virtually uninhabitable
2. The level to prevent ocean acidification destroying plankton making up the base of the food chain and reducing their role as carbon sinks
3. The best case scenario which is viable both in physical and economic terms.

This should then produce a range of tolerance between two figures providing both a goal for further action and security that action remains viable.