Queensland Australia proposes long term carbon emissions cut

QUEENSLAND will cut its carbon emissions by over 30 per cent by 2020 under a $414 million climate change strategy unveiled yesterday by Premier Peter Beattie.

Mr Beattie told a gathering of energy experts, environmentalists and business representatives in Brisbane that the plan was to have 18 per cent of the state's power generated by natural gas and 10 per cent of energy coming from renewable sources by 2020.

The wide-ranging Climate Smart 2050 report is designed to reduce emissions by 34 per cent by 2020 and by 60 per cent by 2050, based on 2000 levels of emissions.

It comes days after the Federal Government's task group on emissions trading proposed setting up a single national system that would supersede many of the state-based programs.

Mr Beattie said parts of the strategy outlined yesterday, particularly the targets set for renewable energy, might need to be changed to fit any future national emissions targets.

"We'll need to have a look at what he (Prime Minister John Howard) does," Mr Beattie said.

"To be perfectly honest we're not sure there'll need to be any change at all."

Mr Beattie called on Mr Howard to adopt the Queensland targets and put them in place nationally.

The focus of the strategy is the creation of a $300 million Queensland Climate Change Fund, which will be used to develop new green technologies such as hydrogen fuel cells.

The fund will be set up by the sale of the Queensland Government's wind farm assets around Australia and the remaining gas assets of Enertrade, which include the Moranbah-to-Townsville gas pipeline.

Mr Beattie said the interest from the climate change fund, expected to be about $20 million annually, would see ongoing investment in the future of climate change initiatives.

The Premier said one of the biggest challenges facing the state was balancing lower emissions with the growing demand for energy due to population growth, while also supporting the local coal industry.

The next power station to be built in Queensland would use clean coal technology, Mr Beattie said.

Also included in the report is a $55 million energy savings program. This program will be set up to help businesses that use large amounts of energy to implement different energy saving measures.

A $50 million renewable energy fund will also promote research and development and assist in meeting the Government's renewable energy goal of 10 per cent by 2020.

AAP

http://www.thepremier.qld.gov.au/news