Oz Greens Shut Down GHG Targeting Plans; Now No Party Working For Cuts @ Levels Scientists Urge

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THE Greens have quietly shelved their long-held greenhouse gas cuts target of up to 40 per cent by 2020, meaning no party in Parliament is actively pushing for emissions cuts at levels recommended by climate-change scientists.

The party still aims to reach deep carbon dioxide cuts, and officially its policy is still to cut emissions by 25 to 40 per cent by 2020, but this is off the agenda until a carbon tax is established.

Three sources in the party confirmed this week that the Greens have now given up hope of persuading Labor to move much beyond its minimum commitment of a 5 per cent cut in emissions over the next decade.

Such cuts would leave Australia short of its position on the Copenhagen Accord - the non-binding agreement that the former prime minister Kevin Rudd backed in December 2009 - which recognised ''the scientific view that the increase in global temperature should be below 2 degrees Celsius''. The Climate Change Minister, Greg Combet, said yesterday that Australia would take its unconditional 5 per cent carbon cut to the next round of UN climate negotiations in Durban, South Africa in November.

EDIT

http://www.smh.com.au/environment/climate-change/emission-impossible-as-greens-put-gas-targets-on-ice-20110510-1ehbf.html