TRANSPORT IMPACTS

“The only thing left to do is stockpile petroleum…..”.  I blurted this out a couple of days ago in a seminar, with giggles and silence following.  It seemed like it was the only think left we could do that would genuinely reduce our emissions in this time of “Carbon Pollution Reduction Schemes” further to the targets set by the government.

As a nation, we are going to have a quota of greenhouse gases that we are allowed to emit.  This will mean that each industry will either be given, or have to buy emission permits in order for it to carry out processes which emit carbon dioxide.  The generators of electricity will be required to buy emission permits and then they will burn coal or whatever they have to produce electricity and they will give off some emissions in the process.  This is quite straight forward as all the emissions are occurring within the environment that the permit holder controls.  This will be the case for most industries.

Transport will be interesting though.  Without having read the CPRS I cannot speak as an informed citizen, but I struggle to understand how emissions will be controlled and counted.  Petrol will increase in price due to the Emissions Trading Scheme, and it will be assumed that those who purchase the petrol will use it to pollute.  Maybe, what we need to do is somehow purchase this petrol and then not pollute with it.  Emissions will be counted, but we won’t have emitted anything.  This is the same as retiring emission permits, but without the government knowing about it – so it won’t be able to give out extra emission permits so that the nation is still emitting up to its limit.

I am just going to have to think of a way of safely stockpiling millions of litres of petrol to do this.  But, surely there must be an easier way ……

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