Rudd left after recent vastly unpopular decisions, including imposing a new mining tax and nixing a carbon-reduction scheme.
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Together with renovating hydroelectric dams and increasing efficiency, this will continue the three most important carbon-reduction strategies we have ever had.
Slashing carbon intensity can also help foster emerging carbon-reduction technologies.
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Emissions are falling by less than a percentage point a year, and the government has admitted that it will fail to meet a self-imposed target of a 20% reduction in carbon-dioxide emissions on 1990 levels by next year, even though the recession has cut economic activity.
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The letter, organized by Beyond Zero Emissions, comes as a response to the failure of the much-compromised Carbon Pollution Reduction Scheme (CPRS), which was pilloried as a giveaway to fossil fuel industries and ineffective for driving clean energy deployment.
Sorry, I'll tune in again at bed time, but right now I've just got to hand-sharpen my new Japanese carbon-steel knife and mince shallots for the red-wine reduction sauce I'm slathering on those dry-aged rib-eyes that I got from Joe the Butcher, my new best friend.
But in 2008, GOP presidential candidate John McCain embraced cap-and-trade, a carbon reduction design that operates much like an energy tax.
But since then China has restated its commitment to achieving a 40-45% reduction in carbon emissions per unit of GDP by 2020 compared with 2005.
Growth has risen faster than emissions, at global and national levels, and more is to come: China's latest national plan, for example, calls for a 40-45% reduction in carbon intensity without compromising economic development.
The laws achieve low-carbon growth, greater energy security and a reduction in greenhouse gases and local air pollution.
Moreover, backing carbon-efficient building is one way to meet emission-reduction targets by 2020, as the government is committed to doing.
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Those proclaiming the virtues of wind and solar should be compelled to reveal actual output data from these sources, the required back-up, and data on the actual reduction of carbon dioxide and other emissions when alternative sources are used.
Now efforts to control global warming are set to transform our urban landscapes -- notably in London which last month unveiled ambitious plans to turn itself into the world's greenest city by cutting carbon emissions by 33 percent by 2025 -- the equivalent of a four percent reduction every year.
It also said "great uncertainty" remained over the planned transition at the end of the year from Cert (Carbon Emission Reduction Target) to the UK government's "Green Deal" - a scheme which aims to improve the energy efficiency of homes by eliminating the need for householders to pay upfront for efficiency measures.
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