Integrated Greenhouse Policies

The recommendations of the Ecologically Sustainable Development (ESD) Working Groups on Energy Use, Energy Production and Transport, together with the ESD Greenhouse Report, provide a suitable foundation for national greenhouse policies despite their shortcomings. Our own analysis of the consultants' data suggests that it might be possible to reduce CO2 emissions further and achieve the Government's interim target at no net cost. To achieve these joint environmental and economic benefits would require 'high' intervention by Federal and State Governments to introduce a package of measures: - institutional reforms (e.g. through the introduction of integrated least-cost energy planning and the financing of least-cost provision of energy services); - energy labelling of appliances, buildings and motor vehicles; - regulations and standards to improve the energy efficiency of appliances, buildings and motor vehicles; - restructuring energy prices to remove cross-subsidies and to internalise non-greenhouse environmental costs; - Government procurement of cost-effective energy efficient products; - taxation and other incentives for energy efficiency; - provision of information, education and training. The 'ultimate objective' of the Climate Change Convention signed at the Earth Summit specifies the stabilisation of greenhouse gas concentrations in the atmosphere.