What should the Liberal-National coalition do now to recapture the green vote?

The community climate action group Climate Change Australia (CCA) has examined the Coalition’s Direct Action Plan for a 5% reduction in Australia’s greenhouse gas emissions by 2020. The Plan was prepared for the 2010 election and has not been up-dated.

CCA President Harry Creamer says that if elected, the Coalition would abolish most of the Clean Energy Future package which levies 375 companies for the pollution they emit.

“Under a Coalition government companies will be able to choose the path of business as usual, with no penalties”, Mr Creamer said.

“Instead, a government grant process will be set up, based on voluntary participation with outcomes limited by available funding”, he said.

“The current policy taxes polluters and compensates taxpayers. Direct Action would compensate polluters and tax the taxpayers”.

“Under Direct Action companies will be monitored for their carbon emissions, but only if they exceed their baselines will they face penalties. If the Plan had been in place in 2011-12, nearly 200 companies would have paid fines for exceeding their baselines”, Mr Creamer said.

“Companies that choose not to reduce their carbon footprint will face higher electricity prices and devalued assets in future when the world takes serious action on climate change. The value of all fossil fuel investments in mines, wells, pipelines, generating plants, railways, ports, etc., will be written down, creating losses for many investors”, he said.

Mr Creamer says many people think it would be better to continue sending a price signal through the economy, encouraging firms to innovate, even if it is costing households an extra $3 a week in electricity, for which they are fully compensated.

Most Direct Action grants will go to soil carbon storage projects. However studies show it is unlikely the Coalition will achieve anything near its target using this method.

“The potential for increased soil carbon storage is technically and economically very limited. Results are highly variable according to soil type and carbon losses caused by fire, drought, cultivation and erosion”, Mr Creamer said.

“Paying farmers between $8 and $10 a tonne is too low to make a profit, so the Plan may not achieve 5% and cannot achieve anything higher”, he said.

Another 1 million small-scale PV solar systems will be encouraged through $1000 grants, and a ‘Green Army’ will plant 20 million trees by 2020.

“To soak up 85 million tonnes of CO2, 224 million trees must be planted each year. This would need an area twice the size of Sydney”, Mr Creamer said.

CCA welcomes Coalition support for renewable energy, including the target of 20% by 2020, and the total 41,000 gigawatt hours. However the group is asking the Coalition to immediately revise the Plan to address other concerns.

Members of the group are also concerned at what they see as a serious disconnect between the goals of the Plan, and Tony Abbott’s description of climate science as ‘far from settled’ and his questioning the role of CO2 as an ‘invisible substance’. (So is radiation and trading in futures contracts but we need rules to regulate them).

“Publish a full plan before the election, with all the details of how it will work, and an introduction by Tony Abbott”, the group says.

A detailed analysis of the Direct Action Plan will be available on the CCA website soon.