Monday 17 December 2007

High price of a green reality

Australian Financial Review
Wednesday 12/12/2007 Page: 55

The reality of cutting greenhouse gas emissions by the targets that are being suggested in Bali will be hard for politicians and diplomats to swallow as they are likely to be far more costly in terms of GDP and jobs than most people realise. These are the sorts of issues that can make or break governments. Of course the sooner we accept these hard decisions and start to plan for them, the easier they will be to implement. Absorbing the costs over years or decades will be much easier than getting stung with a huge bill at the last minute.

The problem is that many people in the developed world think it is just a matter of erecting more windmills or down-grading to a smaller car. It is actually likely to require a lot more sacrifice than that for many people and the political will to force significant lifestyle changes onto voting populations is a rare commodity.

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