One degree

Courier Mail
By: Graham Readfearn

The scientist who coined the term acid rain says the world is close to a climate change tipping point and Australia must show leadership in dealing with the problem.

American scientist Professor Gene Likens, who in the early '60s was among the first to link the increasing acidity in rain with the burning of fossil fuels, said Australia had to act now.

"Does the climate change problem exist? Yes,'' Professor Likens said.
"The scientific consensus is so strong and so universal -- there are just a handful of doubters on this.

The Mercury
By: Sue Neales

Pioneering forest research by the Australian National University has found Tasmania's native forests contain up to six times as much natural carbon than previously thought.

The ANU research team, led by plant ecologist Brendan Mackey believes the new evidence may force a "rethink'' of national and state policies that encourage logging of native forests.

Professor Mackey says the case is now compelling for national and international efforts to prevent global warming to include the losses for carbon storage caused by the degradation and logging of native forests in south-east Australia.

The Australian
Source: AP

Edmonton: An area of ice covering about 18sqkm has broken off Canada's largest remaining ice shelf.

Trent University researcher Derek Mueller said yesterday he would not be surprised if more ice broke off during the northern summer from the Ward Hunt Ice Shelf, a vast frozen plain off the north coast of Ellesmere Island in Canada's far north.

In a development consistent with climate change theories, the enormous icy plain broke free some time last week and began slowly drifting into the Arctic Ocean. The piece had been a part of the shelf for 3000 years.

The Australian
By: Dennis Shanahan

AS the Coalition meets in Canberra today to forge a climate change policy that would delay an emissions trading scheme beyond 2010, it will be confronted with evidence that most Australians support the Rudd Government's position.

Brendan Nelson is expected to adopt a policy with his shadow cabinet colleagues that opts to delay an ETS until greenhouse gas giants such as India and China act to cut their emissions.

But the latest Newspoll survey has confirmed widespread public support for an ETS, with 60 per cent of voters backing the adoption of a scheme "regardless of what other countries do''.

The Australian
By: Asa Wahlquist

It is not a list you want to top, but the reality is set out in the Garnaut report: Australia is the largest per capita emitter of greenhouse gases in the world. However, the title is misleading.

Australia does top the emissions table, excluding land-use change and forestry emissions.

But include that measure and the Republic of the Congo is propelled right out in front, followed by Malaysia, Canada and then Australia.

The Cairns Post

Cairns' long-term Great Barrier Reef conservation plan risks being shattered by climate change, dramatically affecting the Far North's tourism and fishing industry, a researcher says.

Up to 95 per cent of reefs recently tested have died, says Dr Josh Cinner, from the ARC Centre of Excellence for Coral Reef Studies and James Cook University.

Herald Sun
By: Georgie Pilcher and Mary Bolling

Rooftop gardens, soil footpaths and mandatory parklands are among radical plans to prepare Melbourne for climate change.
And the city's stormwater drains, health system and public transport infrastructure will struggle to cope in a hotter climate, the report says.

Key lobby group the Committee For Melbourne has drafted recommendations to retrofit city buildings and make the public transport system green, to prepare Melbourne for the threat of global warming.

The Australian
By: Leigh Dayton, Science writer

Melbourne, Adelaide and Sydney will blister in temperatures of more than 50C by 2050, according to the first hard look at the impact of climate change on extreme weather.

The forecast is part of a long-term prediction that temperatures on the hottest day of the year will rise dramatically in parts of southern Australia, including the southern Murray-Darling Basin, much of coastal NSW, Victoria and South Australia.

But the study did not find evidence that other parts of Australia would be so severely affected.

The Australian
By: Matthew Warren, Environment writer

The Debate
A Leading US economist has backed the simplicity of a carbon tax to reduce greenhouse emissions rather than the more complicated emissions trading scheme proposed by the Rudd Government yesterday.

The director of Columbia University's Earth Institute, Jeffrey Sachs, said it was unrealistic to expect one global carbon scheme. The reality was more likely to be a number of different schemes, resulting in a range of measures to achieve reductions in greenhouse gas emissions.

The Courier-Mail
By: Michael Madigan, Adam Gartrell, Susanna Dunkerley.
Additional reporting: AAP

About 1000 of the nation's biggest polluters will be required to buy permits under the Federal Government's emissions trading scheme.

The Government on Wednesday will release a Green Paper on an ETS, which is likely to include a proposed model.
Climate Change Minister Penny Wong, pictured, yesterday said the Government estimated about 1000 Australian businesses would be required to take part in the scheme.

The Advertiser

Delaying the introduction of an emissions trading scheme would cost Australia billions of dollars, Treasurer Wayne Swan has said.

The Federal Government plans to start emissions trading in 2010 but the Opposition has called for a two-year delay amid warnings the scheme could cause severe economic pain.

Mr Swan rejected the call in a speech in Sydney last night.
"Delaying the introduction . . . as proposed by the Federal Opposition, would also have billions of dollars worth of adverse consequences for Australia,'' he said last night.

Mr Swan said climate change was the most significant economic challenge of our times.

The Courier-Mail
By: Malcolm Farr, David Fogarty

The G8 Summit

The world's biggest polluters have agreed on the need for "deep cuts'' in greenhouse gas emissions.
But the historic meeting in Japan yesterday -- which was addressed by Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd -- failed again to set specific targets because of ongoing differences between developed and emerging economies.

The Australian
By: Peter Alford and Matthew Franklin

THE G8 group of industrialised nations has set a goal of halving greenhouse gas emissions by 2050 under a pact that for the first time ties the US to a global target. The deal represents George W.Bush's first acceptance of a specifically targeted emissions reduction regime, the US having stood aloof from the 1997 Kyoto Protocol.

The Australian
By: Asa Wahlquist and Christian Kerr
Source: Additional reporting AAP

Australia's agricultural regions face a hotter, drier, more drought-stricken future as a result of climate change, with major implications for both the price and supply of food.
The prediction has been delivered in a major report by the Bureau of Meteorology and the CSIRO, described yesterday by Kevin Rudd as "very disturbing'' and "a serious revision of the impact of climate change on drought''.
Agriculture Minister Tony Burke warned the cycle of drought would be "more regular and deeper than ever''. He described the higher-level projections in the assessment as "more like a disaster novel than a scientific report''. He said the report found extreme temperatures that used to occur once every 20 to 25 years "are now likely to occur one in every one to two years as we move towards the year 2030''. The area experiencing exceptionally low rainfall is forecast to double, as is the likelihood of drought.

Herald Sun
By: Olga Galacho, with AGENCIES

Senator warms to climate change report

In the strongest hint yet that carbon guru Ross Garnaut may be on the money when he calls for strong measures to reduce emissions, Climate Change Minister Penny Wong yesterday appeared to soften her assessment of his advice.
Following the release of his Climate Change Review on Friday, Senator Wong yesterday said he had made an "extraordinarily important contribution'' to government thinking.

The Australian
By: Dennis Shanahan, Political editor

GLOBAL FIGHT
Kevin Rudd and Penny Wong will lobby China at this week's G8 summit in Japan to take further action to combat greenhouse gas emissions as they push for Australia's own emissions trading scheme by 2010.

In Tokayo, on the northern island of Hokkaido, the Prime Minister and the Climate Change Minister will also be lobbying the world's leading economies on international fuel prices.

The Weekend Australian
Page 10

"A domestic emissions trading scheme must contain measures to ensure the competitiveness of trade-exposed energy-intensive businesses"
Australian Chamber of Commerce and Industry chief executive Peter Anderson

"Professor Garnaut's report adds urgency for Australia's journey away from the fatal shores of our high carbon economy"
Climate Institute chief executive John Connor

"Doing nothing is not an option. Urgent action is needed to avert the impending disaster of climate change. Everyone will be affected and all of us must pull our weight. We need to protect vulnerable families and trade-exposed industries but we also need to recognise that green jobs and climate-friendly industries provide Australia with economic opportunities"
Australian Council of Trade Unions president Sharan Burrow

"Australia must ... know precisely the price that will be paid before Mr Rudd formally commits us to the new international agreement on climate change in 2012"
Brendan Nelson

"Professor Garnaut has again failed to appreciate the financial position of the generators, some of which will be facing severe operating losses and will therefore be put into a financially perilous state. We think essential energy industries should receive either cash or free permits"
National Generators Forum executive director John Boshier

"Our economy is strong, so the responsible thing to do is act now while it is affordable. Any delay will result in irreversible damage to the environment and future economy"
World Wildlife Fund chief executive Greg Bourne

Herald Sun
By: Olga Galacho and Alice Coster

Business and industry give Ross Garnaut's draft proposals a cautious tick but say there are many issues still to be resolved. Olga Galacho and Alice Coster speak to the key players.

BUSINESS
Australian Chamber of Commerce and Industry chief executive Peter Anderson
Business supports key aspects in the draft review, such as the broad coverage of greenhouse gases and industries including transport, a soft start before international agreements have been finalised, and prioritising global and sectoral agreements.

Herald Sun
By: Gerard McManus

Australians will pay more for petrol, power, houses and food under a blueprint for a carbon emissions scheme unveiled yesterday.
Describing climate change as a diabolical policy problem for the Federal Government, review author Prof Ross Garnaut said Australia's way of life was under threat unless painful action was taken quickly.
Drawcard tourist destinations such as the Great Barrier Reef and Kakadu would be lost, and the nation's food bowl -- the Murray-Darling Basin -- was at risk of drying up by 2100, he said.

The Mercury
By: Malcolm Farr

Fighting "insidious'' climate change would batter the budgets of low-income families, the Government's emission's control expert, Ross Garnaut, conceded yesterday.

An emissions trading scheme, which made carbon-polluting products such as petrol and electricity more expensive, would add to household bills and be regressive.

But Professor Garnaut, an economist, said the cost to families would be much greater if there was no attempt to mitigate climate change.

The Australian

Building a sustainable house on a small suburban block has its challenges, but as this year's HIA GreenSmart Design Concept winner has proven, it's not impossible.

Victoria's Third Ecology Architects have just started construction of two townhouses on a 560sq m Barwon Heads block, which will boast a six-plus star rating.

According to managing director, Mark Sanders, thoughtful design has enabled the firm to pack a host of sustainable features into the limited space.

The Advertiser
By: David Spratt

To save Earth action must come before politics, says David Spratt

Shocking as it may be, within five years the earth is likely to have only one polar ice cap, rather than two, during the summer.

Allowing this condition to persist is not safe, but getting our climate solutions right poses a unique challenge.

We can only play this game once. If we don't do enough, or at sufficient pace, in building a post-carbon economy, the climate system will get away from our capacity to correct it.

Trial and error climate policy is not an option.

Courier Mail
By: Kerrie Sinclair

Australia must slash greenhouse gas emissions far more steeply and decades sooner than planned or there will be no chance of halting dangerous levels of warming, alarming new research shows.

The findings come on the eve of the much-anticipated Garnaut review of climate change and Australia's planned emissions trading scheme.

The Australian
By: Tony Blair

If we are serious about climate change we can't afford a rerun of Kyoto or to rule out nuclear power, warns Tony Blair

There has been an enormous shift in opinion in recent years about climate change. Scientists and political leaders are now united over the threat and the need for action. But there is a danger of a chasm on the size and speed of the cuts to greenhouse gas emissions we require.

Northern Territory News
By: Ben Langford

Territorians are by far the nation's worst greenhouse polluters with per capita emissions almost double the next highest state.
And NT greenhouse emissions are on the rise, up from 13.5 million tonnes in 2005 to 16.2 million in 2006.

The National Greenhouse Inventory shows the NT rate is about 76.4 tonnes per person per year. Queensland's figure is 40.8, New South Wales 23.4 and South Australia 17.7.

Environmentalists called for an end to large-scale land clearing as a short-term measure.