Abbott's climate change policy

Australian opposition leader Tony Abbott released his climate change policy earlier this week, after having come under attack in December last year for claiming that "climate change is crap" to a small Victorian newspaper. Abbott's climate change policy does not include an emissions trading scheme, but consists of a 'soil and sun' package that is meant to boost the amount of carbon stored in farming land, offer incentives for some businesses to cut emissions and bring solar energy to a million homes over a decade.

Abbott's policy is favoured by the Australian coal industry, which is fearing heavy losses under Rudd's proposed Carbon Pollution Reduction Scheme (CPRS). The opposition proposes that heavy polluters should be allowed to continue to emit at current levels without penalties to protect the Australian economy.

The proposal comes in the wake of the failure of the Copenhagen climate summit, and as the Rudd government re-introduces its emissions trading plan into Parliament. It is another step towards the failure to arrive at a global consensus on climate change.