Business Council calls for carbon emissions target


The Business Council of Australia (BCA) wants a target set for the reduction of carbon emissions.
Labor has seized on the calls by the council, saying it makes a mockery of the Prime Minister's stance on the issue.
Labor has pledged a 60 per cent emission reduction by 2050.
Prime Minister John Howard says targets like that would threaten Australian industry - but now Australian industry has joined the calls for a target.
The Business Council wants a sensible target over 30 years.
Policy director from the Business Council, Maria Tarrant, says a target would give industry certainty, but it must set at a sensible level so it does not damage the economy.
"You need to actually consider giving business certainty about what is being expected in the long-term and what is the likely forward cost of carbon so that people can invest," she said.
"But you need to do that in the context of the Australian economy, not being driven by other political or other issues."
Labor's Wayne Swan says Mr Howard has been exposed.
"It exposes John Howard's approach as nothing more than a desperate scare campaign," he said.
"The BCA report is a direct repudiation of the Prime Minister, the Treasurer and Minister for the Environment.
"It says quite sensibly that having short- and long-term targets is the only way to get sustained reduction in carbon emissions."