Australia shelves key emissions trading scheme

  The Australian government has shelved plans for an emissions trading scheme (ETS), the centrepiece of its environmental strategy.  It has made repeated attempts to get the measure through parliament, but has been blocked in the Senate, where the government does not enjoy a majority.  The government will now not start the scheme until 2013 at the very earliest.  PM Kevin Rudd blamed the opposition for withdrawing its support for the measure and slow global progress on emissions.  Previously, Mr Rudd has called climate change the "greatest moral challenge of our generation", and pledged to curb pollution by bringing in a comprehensive emissions trading scheme.  But his attempts to enact the measure into law have repeatedly failed because his party does not command a majority in the upper house, Senate, and the opposition Liberal Party is now led by a climate change sceptic who won the leadership of his party by vowing to block the reform.  In announcing his decision to shelve the measure until at least 2013, when the present Kyoto climate pact expires, Mr Rudd blamed the opposition and the slow progress from other countries in combating global warming.  "These two factors together inevitably mean that the implementation of a carbon pollution reduction scheme in Australia will be delayed," he said.  "The implementation of a carbon pollution reduction scheme in Australian will, therefore, be extended until after the conclusion of the current Kyoto commitment period, which finishes at the end of 2012."  This is a major climb-down by the Rudd government, and also reflects the changing politics of climate change in Australia.  Ahead of the Copenhagen climate change conference, Mr Rudd looked set to fight - and win - this year's Australian election on the emissions trading issue, but polls have pointed to an erosion of public support.  Given its reliance on coal, Australia has the highest per capita emissions of any developed country, and this decision could draw strong criticism from abroad.

@'BBC'