I'll delve in to some of those reports to see if there is anything I've missed from the vigilant Gristmill website and the Carbon Trade Watch group. Basically emissions trading would work well if only so many shysters didn't see it as a gravy train. Our politicians aren't on the ball enough to see through the misrepresentations. Carbon tax is not the alternative since some of the dodgy deals done in the name of carbon trading would morph themselves into dodgy carbon tax deductions. Think carbon tax then tax avoidance.

Climatologist James Hansen says our highest priority must be to drastically reduce coal burning. Not to offset it or prepare for inevitable warming but to emit far less in the first place. Jenny Craig tells clients to diet and exercise, not to get a bigger dress size. My suggestion for the ETS is to increase the target to at least 25% CO2e cuts by 2020 relative to 2000. Limit offsets both credible and dodgy to 10% of the permits. If the cap reduction was say 15 million tonnes CO2e year beginning 1/7/10 then offsets would be limited to 1.5 Mt. Tell farmers, foresters and biocharcoalers they are excluded until they can be measured properly. Tell the aluminium and electrical generation industries they will get a cash subsidy in the budget to restore profits to the level their shareholders feel they are entitled. This will take political balls.

What will remain is that every large fossil carbon emitter has to buy permits but there will be no escape clauses. The parasite carbon traders will have to find other jobs. We'll all pay more then again we'll have insulation, smart meters and so on. Otherwise it's like token attendance at Jenny Craig without the scales and tape measure.

Clearly it makes sense to clip atmospheric carbon somehow . Huge reduction could happen if maximum ,engine size / vehicle weight were introduced . Macho vehicles in the quantities we have in OZ are madness .
All private vehicles should be powered by CNG , maximum engine size 1.5 liter .
This has happened in other countries .

USA is one where Trucks , Tractors and Trains are also running on Compressed Natural Gas , CNG .

CNG is the same gas your water heater , gas appliances in your kitchen use .

We will never resolve the CO2 / Global warming malaise .

Even if half the pop. were skeptics , all of us must agree we must be harming or eventually will by pumping as much acid (Co2) into the atmosphere as we do , Remembering that as the population grows ...........

Australia on the other hand has really done nothing except academic arguments , never ending .

Le Grand Gesture will never do anything about Coal .

Coal employs Unionists .

Forget about Global Warming be happy and slowly choke to death .

When you are gasping your last breath spare a thought for all the poor Unionists who at last have dredged up the last bucket of coal .

What is confusing is the idea that someone can sell a carbon credit to a polluter to enable them to keep polluting.

So all we are doing is shifting the polluting from one source to another. It does not reduce pollution or emissions.

I know many people who have installed grid-fed solar systems, for both environmental and financial benefit, only to find that power companies have now increased the 'fixed' charges to compensate for any lost income by those solar customers. Fixed charges relate to the set costs for all consumers ostensibly to pay for infrastructure.

You gotta love unfettered capitalism.

Yes Pelican, it is a fraud.
When the Soviet union collapsed the oligarchs bought up all the old
factories that went bust and sold their carbon credits to the European
businesses. They were not producing any CO2 anyway but that did not
matter,the credits were real.
The European system has reached the stage that it is cheaper to buy
credits than reduce C)2 because the credits were about 6 Euros.

Where are you Martin Luther ?

Carbon trading will make the greedy greedier. Who is going to take responsibility for increase in emissions? Certainly not the big polluters! They will ride on the back of all responsible citizens who are attempting to curb emissions. The whole idea is a con job by corporations to bleed citizens and increase their profits by not spending on addressing their huge emission problems.

The Government is not really honest about carbon trading to reduce emissions otherwise it would not have such a low achievement to attain! When it is obvious as the nose on your face that their plan will have little affect in the long term if they keep promoting coal and ignoring Australian born solutions that are grabbed by overseas countries.

They have not included transport in their poor plan. Local government, state and federal have not made laws to improve design so that energy is cut back on everything. Imported good from China are built to last a short time often just after the guarantee runs out! Then these good go to landfill. Waste waste waste is what causes all these high emission. Waste is what gives the corporations their endless profits. WE need a shift in thinking not a carbon trading scheme.

We need Government to address the real issues to stop squabbling over who is going to lead us to the next election and to get on with their job of good governance. This goes for all 3 layers of Government.