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AGL's Fraser Supports Emissions Plan Only for Power Generation
2010-09-15 02:46:33.293 GMT
By James Paton
Sept. 15 (Bloomberg) -- Australian lawmakers should
consider an emissions-trading system that applies only to
electricity generation and excludes transport and agriculture,
AGL Energy Ltd. Chief Executive Officer Michael Fraser said.
Australia eventually will have a carbon-pollution reduction
plan after the nation's previous initiative was shelved, Fraser
said, adding he supports introducing such measures.
"We don't know when, and we don't know how," the head of
Australia's largest electricity retailer said in Sydney today.
"When you look at Canberra and you look at the political
difficulties, and you look at the interests of stakeholders
around the country, one of the things I would reflect on is that
perhaps we have been too ambitious in trying to introduce an
all-encompassing CPRS or emissions-trading scheme."
Australian Prime Minister Julia Gillard appointed Greg
Combet climate change minister and tasked the former union
leader with leading an effort to impose a price on carbon to
reduce emissions in Australia, the world's largest exporter of
coal. Combet, 52, was sworn in yesterday in Canberra.
Australian companies will hold off on investment in gas-
fired power plants without certainty about a carbon price, he
said. "It's simply not going to happen," Fraser said.
For Related News and Information:
Top stories: TOP AU <GO>
Top energy stories: ETOP <GO>
--Editors: Clyde Russell, Ryan Woo.
To contact the reporter on this story:
James Paton in Sydney +61-2-9777-8698 or jpaton4@bloomberg.net.
To contact the editor responsible for this story:
Amit Prakash at +65-6212-1167 or aprakash1@bloomberg.net.
