If we are going to meet the crisis posed by global warming, governments must take strong and urgent measures to cut emissions now. We need to build a sustainable economy and we need to do it fast. Delay will result in dangerous and unstoppable climate change.
That's the biggest reason why the Rudd government's scandalous Carbon Pollution Reduction Scheme (CPRS) should be rejected. It will delay the transition away from a fossil fuel economy.
The carbon trading scheme pays no attention to the climate science and will not cut emissions to safe levels. If passed into law, it will help keep the big polluters in business for longer.
In a recent report on the impact of carbon pollution on the world's oceans, Dr Andrew Brierley, a biology professor at Scotland's St Andrew University, added his voice to the growing scientific alarm.
He and co-author Michael Kingsford found carbon dioxide levels in the atmosphere were rising quicker than the most pessimistic climate scientists thought possible just two years ago.
Brierley told the August 2 Scotland on Sunday: "These are the worst-case scenarios for carbon dioxide increase and we are above that already. That's the thing that really frightens me."
The flaws in the CPRS — a policy we're told is supposed to help us out of this planetary emergency — are almost as frightening.
The CPRS will lock in a target of a 5% cut in emissions by 2020 when the world's leading scientists say a 60% cut is needed.
The scheme gives billions of dollars to the biggest polluting corporations. This is public money that could help fund the transition to renewable energy, energy-efficiency programs and public transport we desperately need.
Under the scheme, companies will be able to buy and sell pollution rights. The government has placed a cap on how much each tonne of carbon dioxide will cost, starting at $10.
New economic modelling from the CSIRO released on August 3 predicted the cap is so low it will make fossil fuels cheaper than renewable energy alternatives. Rather than pricing carbon out of the market, the CPRS will price it back in.
Even the token 5% cut is unlikely to be met. Businesses will be allowed to meet the target by buying carbon credits from dubious carbon-offset projects overseas. Ridiculously, it means Australia's total emissions can actually rise while the target can be met on paper.
The CPRS will be voted upon in parliament on August 13. With the help of a docile media, PM Kevin Rudd and climate change minister Penny Wong have presented the pro-business scheme as the only option to deal with climate change.
The "leave no polluter behind" stance of the opposition has hurt it in the opinion polls. But it has also given the ALP government the space to create the illusion it offers something fundamentally different.
Yet the flaws in the ALP's scheme are not oversights or mistakes. The CPRS is calculated to protect business profits and dupe the public at the same time. It will fail to achieve a safe climate — but then it isn't designed to.