Whoops! After Howard Suddenly Shifts To Support Carbon Trading, Bush Admin. Says It Won't Woik

A SENIOR US official says carbon emissions trading systems are unworkable, the first serious difference between the Bush Administration and the Howard Government on climate change.

Australia is the only developed country to have sided with the US in refusing to ratify the Kyoto Protocol, and has closely mimicked Bush policy ever since. But the Australian Government's commitment last month to creating a so-called cap-and-trade carbon emissions trading system by 2012 has marked a clear point of departure.

The topmost US negotiator, the under-secretary of state for global affairs, Paula Dobriansky, told the Herald in Sydney yesterday that emissions trading in current conditions could be harmful. "When we have looked at cap-and-trade, it can have negative ramifications for one's economy, and it can stall investment in new technology," Ms Dobriansky said. The conditions to successfully implement such a scheme were "not in place" she said, indicating the Bush Administration would not contemplate any such idea, despite some US states doing so without federal co-operation.

"We think our policies are working and we'll stick with them, and not shift courses."

EDIT

http://www.smh.com.au/news/environment/bush-administration-blows-hole-in-cosub2sub-plan/2007/07/24/1185043117195.html