4 recent [Greens-Media] press releases regarding Climate Change and/or
the folly of CO2 geosequestration ...


Sir Nicholas Stern says climate change is gathering speed - no time to
waste on unproven solutions

Hobart 17 April 2008 Australian Greens climate change spokesperson,
Senator Christine Milne, said climate expert Sir Nicholas Stern
overnight confirmed what the Greens and leading scientists have been
saying for some time; that climate change is accelerating and the planet
is running out of time.

"Sir Nicholas told the Reuters news agency in London that, 'Emissions
are growing much faster than we thought, the absorptive capacity of the
planet is less that we thought, the risks of greenhouse gases are
potentially bigger than more cautious estimates, and the speed of
climate change seems to be faster.'

"Alarm bells ought to be going off from the Whitehouse to Beijing and
here, at Parliament House in Canberra.

"We need deep cuts now.

"The Rudd Government needs to abandon its outdated pre-election pledge
to reduce Australia's emissions by 60% by 2050, and take action to make
deeper cuts.

"We must not delay action on the promise of the coal industry that it
can capture carbon and sequester it.

"As the respected McKinsey and Company recently demonstrated, we have
solutions available now. We need to immediately end the logging and
burning of native forests in Tasmania, NSW and Victoria. We must
systematically implement the roll out of renewables and energy
efficiency through this year's Budget.

"With a strong government commitment to investing in, and growing the
capacity of, these solutions, Australia can begin to seriously reduce
its extremely high per capita emissions.

"This should be the key agenda item at the Prime Minister's 2020 Summit
this weekend. Unless our country, and all in the developed and
developing world, rein in greenhouse emissions fast, we will all suffer
the effects of runaway climate change," Senator Milne said.


Media contacts: Cassy O'Connor 03 6224 8899 or 0400 628 939

References:
G. Wynn, 'Climate expert Stern says underestimated problem', Reuters,
16 April 2008
McKinsey and Company, 'An Australian Cost Curve for Greenhouse Gas
Reduction', February 2008,
http://www.mckinsey.com/clientservice/ccsi/pdf/Australian_Cost_Curve_for
_GHG_Reduction.pdf

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Paying the polluter, Propping up a failing industry

Canberra, Wednesday 16 April 2008 Australian Greens climate change
spokesperson, Senator Christine Milne, today condemned calls by the
Australian Coal Association, CFMEU, WWF and the Climate Institute, for
increased government support for geosequestration as greenwashing a
proposal to pay the polluter and prop up a failing industry.

Senator Milne said "The Cancer Council did not push for government
funding to tobacco giants to see if low tar cigarettes caused less
cancer. Neither should WWF, the Climate Institute and the CFMEU be
pushing the government to help the equally rich coal companies see if
they can bring down emissions to levels which, as they know, will still
be dangerously high.

"The answer then was quit smoking. The answer now is just as
straight-forward. Why throw taxpayers' dollars at an expensive and
unproven technology when the renewable energy and energy efficiency
alternatives are affordable and ready to start cutting emissions
immediately?

"As WWF and the Climate Institute should know, the urgency of dealing
with climate change is such that we must put every bit of support we can
into the technologies that can reduce emissions now, not pin our hopes
on an unproven and risky techno-fix that would be completely bypassed if
it didn't involve one of the world's most powerful industries.

"The dream of cleaning up coal is slipping away, with the collapse of
the FutureGen project in the USA being the latest example of blown-out
budgets and timelines. Industry spokespeople in Australia and around the
world are now admitting that their expectations of commercially-viable
'clean coal' by 2020 are looking increasingly unlikely.

"Under what perverse logic does the failure of an industry to perform
require that it is given extra support? Many gigawatts of
baseload-capable renewable energy are being installed around the world
today, while the best estimates of the coal sector, that they could have
a handful of commercial plants online by 2020, are being revealed as
wishful thinking.

"The argument that we need to know if 'clean coal' can work is only
justifiable if you see the world through a cloud of coal dust. What we
really need to know is: what are our best, fastest and most effective
options for completely decarbonising our energy supply?

"We already know the answer, and so-called 'clean coal' fails to make
the grade as it is unproven, slow and can never be truly carbon free.
Investing now in efficiency and proven renewables like solar thermal and
wind is the real answer to the real question.

"Today's proposal would undermine the planned emissions trading scheme
by undermining the polluter pays principle that lies at its heart.
Calling for the Government to take control of finding carbon dumping
sites and carrying liability for leaks, let alone asking for tax
incentives and accelerated depreciation for Australia's biggest and
richest polluters, is simply untenable.

"The goal of 10,000 GWh from geosequestration by 2020 is both optimistic
and a tiny drop in the ocean of carbon emissions. Renewables already
generate more power than that in Australia and, by 2020, will be well on
their way to making coal redundant.

"If you want to reduce emissions fast, do not head down this
"coal-de-sac"."


Tim Hollo
Media and Communications Adviser
Senator Christine Milne
+61 (0)2 6277 3063
+61 (0) 437 587 562
www.christinemilne.org.au

Come join the discussion at http://greensblog.org

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Garrett lets the cat out of the bag: CCS is expensive

Canberra, Wednesday 16 April 2008 Environment Minister, Peter Garrett,
let the coal cat out of the bag on ABC Radio National this morning, when
he admitted that the proposed 'clean coal' is "expensive", not the cheap
solution that would allow us to continue to use cheap coal.

Australian Greens climate change spokesperson, Senator Christine Milne,
said "There can be no excuse for the Government making the already
uneven playing field even more biased in favour of fossil fuels, as a
coalition of lobby groups is calling for in Canberra today.

"It makes no sense for the Government to throw taxpayers' dollars at an
expensive and unproven technology when the renewable energy and energy
efficiency alternatives are affordable and ready to be rolled out
immediately.

"Imagining a decarbonised economy means cleaning the coal dust out of
their eyes.

"Before considering for one second lifting fossil fuel subsidies
further, Minister Garrett must explain how the Government can justify
continuing to give one of Australia's most profitable, but most
polluting, sectors ten times the funding of the clean, sunrise renewable
energy industry.

"So-called 'clean coal' has always been justified by governments and the
coal sector based on the claim that renewables are not a cost-effective
alternative. With this admission from the Minister, agreeing with
similar admissions from energy experts around the world, such claims for
'clean coal' are junk economics.

"The dream of cleaning up coal has been slipping away in recent months,
with the collapse of the FutureGen project in the USA being the latest
example of blown-out budgets and timelines. Industry spokespeople in
Australia and around the world are now admitting that their expectations
of commercially-viable 'clean coal' by 2020 are looking increasingly
unlikely.

"Under what perverse logic does the failure of an industry to perform
require that it is given extra support? Many gigawatts of
baseload-capable renewable energy are being installed around the world
today, while the best estimates of the coal sector, that they could have
a handful of commercial plants online by 2020, are being revealed as an
exercise in wishful thinking. The urgency of dealing with climate change
is such that we must put every bit of support we can into the
technologies that can reduce emissions now, not pin our hopes on an
unproven dream because it could save one industry.

"Minister Garrett must also back up his claim this morning that
international visitors are telling him that the Rudd Government has the
best climate policies in the world. This claim is so patently ludicrous,
it is time to name names, Mr Garrett.

"Australia's emissions from energy, transport and logging are still
skyrocketing unchecked. The Rudd Government's policies, far less
comprehensive than those in Europe, California and New Zealand, are
tinkering around the edges unless and until emissions start to fall."


Tim Hollo
Media and Communications Adviser
Senator Christine Milne
+61 (0)2 6277 3063
+61 (0) 437 587 562
www.christinemilne.org.au

Come join the discussion at http://greensblog.org

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Are we headed for coal's biggest ever budget bonanza?

Canberra, Friday 11 April 2008 Australian Greens climate change
spokesperson, Senator Christine Milne, today called on the Rudd
Government to focus its Budget priorities on existing climate solutions
such as energy efficiency and renewable energy, not offer up even
greater subsidies to the hugely profitable coal sector.

Senator Milne said "Prime Minister Rudd's visit to a coal fired power
plant in China instead of one of their world-leading solar or wind sites
is yet another ominous indicator that his Government intends to protect
the coal sector from real, competitive climate solutions.

"The coal sector's hype of 'clean' coal has been badly tarnished in
recent years and months, with little or no progress in research and
development, while renewable energy technologies have been moving in
leaps and bounds, increasing their efficiency, reducing costs and
developing improved energy storage technologies.

"Even John Boshier, head of the National Generators Forum and one of
Australian coal's loudest advocates, has said that early confidence in
the techno-fix is fading amid growing concerns over cost and timeline
blowouts, and the realisation of the mammoth scale of the problem -
burying some 300 million tonnes of CO2 every year in Australia alone.

"Coal is simply being out-competed, and its desperation is evident in
the increasingly strident calls for government hand-outs to one of the
world's most profitable sectors.

"The Rudd Government's first Budget must deliver a level playing field
for energy technologies that puts a price on climate pollution. When
that happens, those technologies that are ready to deliver substantial
emissions reductions now, like energy efficiency, solar thermal power
and wind energy, will out-compete 'clean' coal.

"Instead of delivering a level playing field, Rudd looks set to continue
the Howard Government policies of 'picking losers' with increased
support for the coal sector.

"The coal sector is old, polluting and well entrenched. Even if climate
change were not an issue, it would be outrageous that our governments
add billions every year to the coffers of the rich multinational
corporations that run the sector. When you add climate change
considerations to the mix, ongoing fossil fuel subsidies become one of
the most perverse and destructive government decisions imaginable. The
polluter pays principle tells us that the companies that have profited
from polluting for so long should be the ones to shoulder the burden of
cleaning up their act, not the taxpayer.

"The Greens have proposed that a portion of the billions that would be
saved by cutting fossil fuel subsidies should be channelled towards
further research, development and commercialisation of renewable energy
and energy efficiency technologies through a Sun Fund, and to pay for
the early stages of a systematic and systemic retrofit of Australia's
housing stock for energy efficiency set out in our EASI policy.

"I will be watching the Government's first Budget carefully to see if
its priorities follow Martin Ferguson's industry-fuelled hype, or a
sensible, realistic path to clean energy."


Tim Hollo
Media and Communications Adviser
Senator Christine Milne
+61 (0)2 6277 3063
+61 (0) 437 587 562
www.christinemilne.org.au

Come join the discussion at http://greensblog.org