Australia votes against environmental legislation on carbon trading

The Australian senate has voted against plans to introduce a carbon emissions trading scheme in the country.

Prime minister Kevin Rudd had proposed a cap-and-trade system to reduce the amount of heat-trapping pollution that is released into the air by industries.

However, the scheme was defeated in the senate, where Mr Rudd's administration does not hold a majority.

Speaking to the Guardian, Andrew Macintosh, associate director of the Australian National University's centre for climate law and policy, criticised the concept of emissions trading schemes. He stated that they will be "very unlikely" to prevent global temperatures rising by more than two degrees C.

Despite opposition, the Labour government has said that it intends to reintroduce the legislation when parliament resumes in February.

Mr Rudd, who was returning from a meeting with US president Barack Obama when the vote was held on Wednesday (December 1st), had hoped to pass the measures ahead of the UN Climate Change Conference later this month.

World leaders are set to meet in the Danish capital from December 7th to discuss global warming and attempt to agree on policies to limit its effects.

Posted by Joseph Hutton