Climate sense from the Sunday Telegraph

Glenn Milne spells out the hopelessly optimistic assumptions on which the Treasury modelling of the economic impact of an ETS was based:

Remember, these soft impact results of an ETS rely on two key projections; one is that next year’s UN-sponsored Copenhagen climate change summit, the successor to Kyoto, will actually reach universal agreement on a global response. And two, that as result all world players, from the US to China, will begin a concerted policy reaction by 2010.

Based on the chaotic and at times contradictory rejoinder to the current global financial crisis by the same players you’d be within your rights to say: “In your dreams”.

Not to mention the fact, which Malcolm Turnbull legitimately has done, that all this Treasury modelling was done prior to the collapse of global markets. Surely a key point if you’re looking to the future?

Opposition spokesman Andrew Robb is pulling no punches:

“I suspect the Government is hiding the truth – withholding the real impact of the biggest financial meltdown since the Great Depression, to help them blunt growing apprehension about their rush to impose their emissions trading scheme,” Robb said.
…
“Wayne Swan and Kevin Rudd have said ad nauseam the ‘world changed three weeks ago’ and yet they are completely ignoring the effect of this financial crisis. It beggars belief.”

Read it here.