Government Loses Backing From Business Council For Sustainable Development

The Government's emissions trading legislation needs to be re-written, so extensive are the changes demanded by the Business Council For Sustainable Development in its submission. There has clearly been a rebellion within the ranks given the detail of the submission that has been presented to Government. Don't be fooled by the friendly tone of this release. This is a huge backdown. Major changes demanded include:

• Government drop the proposed ban on thermal baseload electricity generation;
• Compensation of liabilities for post 1990 forest owners;
• Removing the limitations on purchasing credits derived from converting coal to nuclear (the Government will love that one);
• a major safeguard review in 2011/12 (ie before the scheme has even kicked in for many sectors).