The greenhouse mafia

Fairfax Business Media
Australian Financial Review
01/06/2007

The Howard government emerged from the Kyoto negotiations of 1997 with two victories. Firstly, in the face of opposition from green groups and European governments, the Kyoto Protocol ended up relying mainly on the market-based, US-devised concept of emissions trading, rather than the direct control over emissions favoured by many in the green movement.

Secondly, Australia secured the most generous emissions target of any developed country, allowed an increase of 8 percent over 1990 levels where most countries committed to reductions of 6 to 8 percent. The agreement also allowed Australia meet the target entirely through land clearing restrictions that were on the way anyway. Yet, 10 years later, the government has yet to ratify the Kyoto Protocol, and did an about-face on emissions trading, rejecting it for years before returning to its original position under pressure from Labor, the states and business leaders.

This situation can in large part be explained by the presence of an influential group in the Australian policy elite, made up of politicians, business leaders, think tanks and commentators bent on preventing any significant emission-cutting activity. Clive Hamilton, in his new book Scorcher: The Dirty Politics of Climate Change, calls the group the 'greenhouse mafia'. The most prominent group in the greenhouse mafia is the Lavoisier Group, one of a series of similar organisations starting with the HR Nicholls Society, which was founded by Western Mining Corp chief executive Hugh Morgan.