AUSTRALIA WON’T DO IT ALONE

Can't blame them, can you? Gotta get China, India and the U.S. on board.

Australian Foreign Minister Says Regional Carbon Trading Scheme Unlikely Soon
Rod Mcguirk, May 21, 2007 (AP via Yahoo Finance)

WHO
Australian Foreign Minister Alexander Downer

WHAT
Australia will not develop a regional carbon emissions trading plan to propose to the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) forum leaders' summit.
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WHEN
Announcement made May 21.
The APEC forum will be in September.

WHERE
The September APEC forum will be in Sydney, Australia.

WHY
As have most regional summits in the recent past, The APEC forum is expected to focus on the subject of climate change. But Australia’s position is that China and the US must lead the way in any carbon trading scheme.
Neither the US or Australia is a Kyoto signatory.
John Howard, Australia’s Prime Minister, has acknowledged that his country must sooner or later develop some kind of emission control carbon trading program, probably modeled on the US-led Asia-Pacific Partnership (which includes Australia, China, Japan, South Korea and India) on Clean Development and Climate forum, which would incentivize clean technologies without limiting emissions.
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QUOTES
Downer: "You need to understand that in terms of an emissions trading scheme, both China -- particularly China -- and the United States -- and I think .... there would be some smaller countries in the region which might share this view -- have been opposed to establishing an emissions trading scheme…So I think the prospects of setting up an emissions trading scheme in the short term are not very bright…"