拒絕簽署《京都議定書》的澳洲,3日立法通過國內第一項關於氣候變遷的議案,目前僅適用於南澳一州。二氧化碳是引發全球暖化的主要溫室氣體,對此,《2007氣候變遷暨溫室氣體減量排放法》不但使南澳樹立排放的減量目標,亦明訂出再生能源的使用標準。
此項立法鎖定的目標有三:減低溫室氣體排放量、提高再生電能的生產比例,以及增加再生電能的使用比例。
不過於此同時,南澳唯一一位綠黨籍議員帕內爾(Mark Parnell)對法案中的目標存異,他指出,南澳現階段溫室氣體排放水準低於1990年水準6.5%,所以法案中「返回1990年排放水準」的目標,等於是立法增加二氧化碳的排放量。
國際氣候變遷行動網澳洲分部則樂觀地認為,若澳洲成功在2020年以前,將再生能源使用比例提升至25%,屆時的效益將不只侷限於對抗氣候變遷,「更能提供澳洲民眾至少1萬6600個就業機會、吸引總值達330億美元的投資,並且生產出足以供應澳洲每戶人家的用電量」。
Australia's first climate change legislation became law today which applies only to the state of South Australia. The Climate Change and Greenhouse Emissions Reduction Act 2007 makes South Australia to legislate targets to reduce emissions of carbon dioxide, the main greenhouse gas responsible for global warming. The law also requires a renewable energy standard.
The legislation sets out three targets: to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, to increase the proportion of renewable electricity generated and to increase the proportion of renewable electricity consumed.
Meanwhile, legislator Mark Parnell pointed out South Australia is 6.5 percent below its 1990 greenhouse pollution level right now, so a "return to 1990 levels is actually a legislated increase," he said.
Australia's Climate Action Network maintains that if Australia introduced a 25 percent renewable energy target by 2020 the country would not only fight climate change, "it would deliver at least 16,600 new jobs for Australians, generate $33 billion in new investment and create enough renewable electricity to power every home in Australia."
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