Australia resources buoyed by UN climate talks stand<\/p>\n
SYDNEY (Reuters): Australia's powerful resources sector on
\nMonday welcomed a strong stand by the federal government at
\ncollapsed UN climate talks in The Hague.<\/p>\n
This followed a breakdown of the talks, aimed at limiting
\ngreenhouse gas emissions, after Australia, the U.S., Canada and
\nJapan insisted that carbon sinks, or forests which absorb
\ngreenhouse gases, be included in counts of carbon dioxide
\nemission control.<\/p>\n
Australia -- a major producer of coal and metals which rely on
\nhefty inputs of coal-fired electricity -- was split between
\nindustry and its strong environment lobby on Monday after The
\nHague talks collapsed.<\/p>\n
Greenpeace activists chained themselves to a shale oil plant
\nin Queensland to protest failure of the Hague talks and the World
\nWide Fund for Nature (WWF) called on Australia to stop looking
\nfor carbon credit \"loopholes\".<\/p>\n
The Australian Chamber of Commerce and Industry also expressed
\ndisappointment at the lack of agreement in The Hague.<\/p>\n
But Australia's resources sector was jubilant that the federal
\ngovernment, which took exactly the stand at the climate talks
\nthat the producers wanted it to do, had held out against emission
\ncurbs without carbon sink tradeoffs.<\/p>\n
\"I was encouraged to see that countries are prepared to stand
\ntheir ground...ultimately that will lead to a much more practical
\noutcome,\" Michael Pinnock, joint executive director of the
\nAustralian Coal Association, said.<\/p>\n
\"If they'd caved in and had a meaningless papered-over
\nagreement, that would have been much worse, disastrous,\" he said.<\/p>\n
Australia is the world's largest coal exporter, shipping about
\n175 million tons, worth around A$8.3 billion, a year.<\/p>\n
The Australian aluminum industry, which uses major inputs of
\ncoal-fired electricity to produce almost 10 percent of the
\nworld's aluminium each year, was similarly pleased.<\/p>\n
\"We certainly supported the broad lines taken by the
\ngovernment...they did a pretty good job,\" said David Coutts,
\nexecutive director of the Australian Aluminium Council.<\/p>\n
\"You just can't say 'hey, we're suddenly not going to have any
\nfossil fuel anymore'.\"<\/p>\n
The Australian Chamber of Commerce and Industry said it was
\ndisappointed with the lack of agreement at The Hague.<\/p>\n
\"Business has not been given the certainty it wanted. The
\nworld had missed the opportunity to take real steps to reduce
\ngreenhouse emissions by introducing market-based mechanisms,\"
\nchief executive Mark Paterson said.<\/p>\n
Australia, together with Canada and Japan, backed the U.S. in
\nThe Hague in arguing that Kyoto targets could not be met without
\ngas emission counts including carbon dioxide soaked up by forests
\nthrough carbon sinks.<\/p>\n
This was opposed most strongly by European nations.<\/p>\n
Australian business said on Monday it saw the lack of
\nagreement at The Hague as merely a suspension of negotiations.<\/p>\n
Flexing muscles<\/p>\n
\"I think if everyone goes back in May (at the next meetings)
\nhaving taken a deep breath and a cold shower we would be pretty
\nhopeful that a sensible conclusion can be reached,\" Coutts said.<\/p>\n
\"If you keep asking for things which are undeliverable and
\nvery questionable in dealing realistically with long-term
\nproblems, you have people that are not prepared to agree with
\nit,\" he said.<\/p>\n
Coutts blamed the EU and extreme environment groups for the
\nfailure of agreement in The Hague.<\/p>\n
Australia's resources industries, some of the country's
\nlargest, were major beneficiaries of the Kyoto agreement of 1997,
\nwhich permitted Australia to increase its emissions by eight
\npercent on its 1990 level.<\/p>",
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