Australian Carbon Trading Scheme Commences

ENN, October 16, 2012

Australian carbon trading took another step forward last month when the first carbon credits under the Carbon Pollution Reduction Scheme were issued. The national carbon trading program has been in the works for six years, politically supported by a Labor-Green coalition government; the first three to five years of the program will see a government-fixed price for carbon, to transition to a market-derived price later. Read more...

Australia to join EU's emissions trading system

EurActiv., August 29, 2012

Australia will scrap its planned floor price for carbon emissions and will link directly with the European Union's emissions trading system by 2018, Climate Change Minister Greg Combet said today (28 August).

Australia, one of the world's highest per capita emitters of pollutants blamed for causing climate change, imposed a fixed €19.08 per tonne carbon tax on around 300 of its biggest polluting companies in July, covering around 60% of emissions.

The €12.45 floor price was due to underpin the scheme when it moved to a floating emissions trading scheme in July 2015. Read more...

Australia to create the world's largest network of marine parks

ABC News, June 14, 2012

Australia will create the world's largest network of marine parks as the world "turns a corner" on ocean protection, Environment Minister Tony Burke has announced.

The network, announced this morning, is made up of five main zones in offshore waters surrounding every state and territory.
But the Government will have to pay up to $100 million in compensation to commercial fishers who will be locked out of some of the new marine parks.
"It's time for the world to turn a corner on protection of our oceans," Mr Burke said as he announced the plans today. Read more...

Άγνωστο είδος δελφινιού κρυβόταν «κάτω από τη μύτη» των βιολόγων

In.gr, 15 Σεπτεμβρίου 2011

Τα περίπου 200 δελφίνια που ζουν σε έναν κόλπο και σε κάποιες λιμνοθάλασσες της Αυστραλίας μπορούν τώρα να πηδούν από τη χαρά τους: Γενετικές και ανατομικές συγκρίσεις αποκαλύπτουν ότι το θαλάσσιο θηλαστικό δεν είναι αυτό που νομίζαμε και πρέπει να αναγνωριστεί ως νέο είδος ρινοδέλφινου.
«Είναι μια απίστευτα συναρπαστική ανακάλυψη καθώς μόνο τρία είδη δελφινιού έχουν περιγραφεί και αναγνωριστεί επίσημα από τα τέλη του 19ου αιώνα» σχολίασε η Κέιτ Τσάρλτον-Ρομπ, επικεφαλής της ερευνητικής ομάδας στο Πανεπιστήμιο Μonash της Αυστραλίας. Διαβάστε περισσότερα...

Australia shelves key emissions trading scheme

BBC News, April 27, 2010

The Australian government has put plans for a flagship emissions trading scheme on hold until 2013 at the earliest. The move comes after the scheme was rejected twice by the Senate, where Prime Minster Kevin Rudd's government does not have a majority.
Mr Rudd, who came to power promising tough climate action, blamed opposition obstruction and slow global progress on emissions cuts for the plan's delay. Read more...

Australia delays emissions scheme

BBC News, May 4, 2009

The Australian government says it will push back a planned carbon emissions trading scheme (ETS) by a year. Prime Minister Kevin Rudd said the delay was necessary because of the poor economic climate.
Australia has the highest per capita emissions in the developed world and coal is its biggest export. Read more...

Environmentalists block Australia coal port

ENN, July 14, 2008

SYDNEY (Reuters) - Environmental protesters in Australia brought the world's biggest coal terminal to a standstill on Sunday by blocking railway lines and chaining themselves to rail cars.
Police said they arrested about 37 people who chained themselves to a train and rail tracks at the port in Newcastle, 100 kilometres (60 miles) north of Sydney to protest over the impact of burning coal on climate change. Read more...

Australian navy may track Japan's whaling fleet

ENN, December 13, 2007

CANBERRA (Reuters) - Australia's new government may send a navy ship to Antarctica to track Japan's whaling fleet and gather evidence to mount a legal challenge, Prime Minister Kevin Rudd said on Thursday. Japan's whaling fleet plans to hunt 935 minke whales, 50 fin whales and for the first time in 40 years, 50 humpback whales for research over the Antarctic summer, with the fleet already on its way south followed by anti-whaling activists.
"We take seriously Australia's international obligations on the proper protection of whales," Rudd told reporters on the sidelines of the U.N. environment summit in Bali. Read more...

Australia signs up to Kyoto

The Guardian, December 3, 2007

Australia won applause at the start of UN-led climate change talks in Bali on Monday by agreeing to ratify the Kyoto protocol, isolating the US as the only developed nation outside the pact. Soon after an Australian delegate promised immediate action on Kyoto, the new prime minister in Canberra, Kevin Rudd, took the oath of office and signed the ratification documents, ending his country's long-held opposition to the global climate agreement.

"I think I can speak for all present here by expressing a sigh of relief," the conference host and Indonesian environment minister, Rachmat Witoelar, told the opening session. Read more...