Emissions target 'borrowed' from Europe

PRIME Minister John Howard today accused Opposition Leader Kevin Rudd of borrowing a European emissions reduction target without working out first what impact it would have on Australia.
"What Mr Rudd has done is he's borrowed a European target. The Australian economy is far different from the European economy and we should not sub-contract our climate policy to the European Union," Mr Howard said on ABC radio.
Under Labor's plan, greenhouse emissions will be cut by 60 per cent by 2050.
Mr Howard said Labor had set its target before working out what impact that would have.
"We should determine a climate change policy that is right for Australia and of course makes a contribution to the worldwide effort to reduce greenhouse gas emissions," he said.
"You do that by working out the impact of potential targets before you embrace them. Mr Rudd in his haste to get a headline has said 'I will cut greenhouse gas emissions by 60 per cent by the year 2050. I don't know what that will do to jobs in the coal industry. I don't know what impact it will have on the economy. But it's a good idea because the Europeans like it'.
"Now he's got a group of people to tell him the economic impact. That is the wrong way around."
Mr Howard said it would be logical and reassuring and sensible to work out a target that was consistent with Australia's national interest which also contributed to global emission reductions.
The Government has yet to set a target but Mr Howard has foreshadowed it would not be of the same order as Labor has proposed.
Federal Labor and the state governments have hired economics professor Ross Garnaut to inquire into the economic threat posed by climate change and what more should be done to mitigate its effects.