Australia Backs Off Extreme Energy Cut-Backs

Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd has issued a plan to cut greenhouse gas emissions by as little as 5% by 2020. A government commission had recommended a 25 to 40% cut! The 5% cut is only a quarter of what the European Union claims it will cut, since it has gone for the cute 20% cut in 2020. Environmentalists are generally very unhappy with this decision.

In light of the facts that the globe is no longer warming and has not done so since about 1998, that there is still no evidence that increasing CO2 emissions caused the global warming for two decades in the late 20th century, that Australia has the world's largest coal industry, and we are in a global economic downturn, a rational evaluator would have to wonder why Australia is committing to any promise of greenhouse gas reductions.

Kevin Rudd gained office as a strong supporter of global warming alarmism. His first official act was to accept the Kyoto accord. His present plan would have Australia make cuts as large as 15% should other major greenhouse gas emitters such as India and China accept large cuts at the UN-sponsored meeting scheduled for Copenhagen late in 2009. All evidence now is that India and China will do no such self-destructive and totally pointless thing.

Australia presently is one of the world's highest per capita greenhouse gas emitters. It exports enough coal to provide Indonesia, New Zealand, and Singapore with all of their electricity production. 83% of Australia's electricity is produced from coal-fired power plants.