Australia’s Labor-led government plans to introduce a fixed carbon price from July 1 next year, with a compensation scheme for some industries, the Australian newspaper reported yesterday, a proposal its key coalition ally had earlier rejected.
Australian Prime Minister Julia Gillard will next week propose a fixed price with a compensation system for energy-intensive industries, such as electricity generation and trade-exposed industries. A transition to an emissions trading scheme would follow by 2015-2016, the paper said, citing sources close to the process.
However, the proposal could face resistance from the -influential Australian Greens party, whose votes Gillard relies on to secure a majority. The party earlier rejected similar proposals because it gave too much compensation to the coal and power industries and the target was too low.
“Labor is set to demand some ‘real-world compromise’ from the Greens by insisting that compensation for energy-intensive industries, such as electricity generation and trade-exposed industries, remain close to that offered in the deal former prime minister Kevin Rudd hammered out with then--opposition leader Malcolm Turnbull in late 2009,” the newspaper said.
Former Australian prime -minister Kevin Rudd and the opposition leader had produced a plan for a carbon price while in office, but the plan was never implemented as both men were removed from the center stage of Australian politics.
Losing the Greens’ support could be a major blow to Gillard.
Her government depends on four independents and Greens to secure a majority in parliament and the conservative opposition under Tony Abbott opposes any carbon scheme. Polls show Gillard far behind Abbott so an early election could topple a Labor government.
An emissions reduction plan is becoming increasingly urgent for Gillard as government emissions projections released this week forecast Australia will produce 690 million tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent by 2020. That represents a 24 percent increase from emissions in 2000.
The government has pledged to cut emissions by at least 5 percent of levels in 2000 by 2020, but given the economy’s growth and reliance on polluting coal for power generation, a 5 percent cut means reducing emissions by 160 million tonnes by 2020.
Analysts and the government have said the longer it takes for a market price on carbon, the harder and costlier it would be to achieve the target.
The carbon and climate change debate further intensified this year after devastating floods swept through much of Queensland and Victoria and one of the most powerful cyclones on record ravaged parts of Queensland.
Fierce political and business opposition fearing higher fuel and power bills has already delayed plans for carbon pricing, with the government shelving a national emissions trading scheme after it was repeatedly rejected by parliament last year.
The government’s projections indicated that without new policies, emissions would grow 1.8 percent a year between last year and 2020, and well above the 0.4 percent growth a year over the past decade.
Australia is one of the world’s biggest per capita emitters because of a reliance on coal for 80 percent of electricity generation.
Last year, electricity accounted for 36 percent of emissions, agriculture and direct fuel combustion 15 percent each, and transport 14 percent.
Taiwan Transport and Storage Corp (TTS, 台灣通運倉儲) yesterday unveiled its first electric tractor unit — manufactured by Volvo Trucks — in a ceremony in Taipei, and said the unit would soon be used to transport cement produced by Taiwan Cement Corp (TCC, 台灣水泥). Both TTS and TCC belong to TCC International Holdings Ltd (台泥國際集團). With the electric tractor unit, the Taipei-based cement firm would become the first in Taiwan to use electric vehicles to transport construction materials. TTS chairman Koo Kung-yi (辜公怡), Volvo Trucks vice president of sales and marketing Johan Selven, TCC president Roman Cheng (程耀輝) and Taikoo Motors Group
Among the rows of vibrators, rubber torsos and leather harnesses at a Chinese sex toys exhibition in Shanghai this weekend, the beginnings of an artificial intelligence (AI)-driven shift in the industry quietly pulsed. China manufactures about 70 percent of the world’s sex toys, most of it the “hardware” on display at the fair — whether that be technicolor tentacled dildos or hyper-realistic personalized silicone dolls. Yet smart toys have been rising in popularity for some time. Many major European and US brands already offer tech-enhanced products that can enable long-distance love, monitor well-being and even bring people one step closer to
RECORD-BREAKING: TSMC’s net profit last quarter beat market expectations by expanding 8.9% and it was the best first-quarter profit in the chipmaker’s history Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電), which counts Nvidia Corp as a key customer, yesterday said that artificial intelligence (AI) server chip revenue is set to more than double this year from last year amid rising demand. The chipmaker expects the growth momentum to continue in the next five years with an annual compound growth rate of 50 percent, TSMC chief executive officer C.C. Wei (魏哲家) told investors yesterday. By 2028, AI chips’ contribution to revenue would climb to about 20 percent from a percentage in the low teens, Wei said. “Almost all the AI innovators are working with TSMC to address the
Malaysia’s leader yesterday announced plans to build a massive semiconductor design park, aiming to boost the Southeast Asian nation’s role in the global chip industry. A prominent player in the semiconductor industry for decades, Malaysia accounts for an estimated 13 percent of global back-end manufacturing, according to German tech giant Bosch. Now it wants to go beyond production and emerge as a chip design powerhouse too, Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim said. “I am pleased to announce the largest IC (integrated circuit) Design Park in Southeast Asia, that will house world-class anchor tenants and collaborate with global companies such as Arm [Holdings PLC],”