Assistant Treasurer Bill Shorten today released draft legislation that overhauls the tax treatment of alternative fuels and delivers on a commitment made to key Independent Tony Windsor to delay an end to special arrangements for ethanol.
Proposals to produce diesel, urea and export-suitable briquettes from New Zealand's brown coal would 'hugely increase' carbon emissions and the nation's CO2 trading rules should ban granting them free carbon credits, says a report released today by NZ Environment Commissioner Dr Jan Wright (with video).
NZ Government-owned Solid Energy wants to make diesel from coal, but the nation's environment commissioner has told Parliament it should instead focus on making biodiesel from wood.
By global standards Australia is investing a paltry amount on developing next-generation biofuels, says Caltex CEO Julian Segal, who describes the notion that a $10 carbon tax could be an acceptable alternative to emissions trading as a 'dangerous fallacy'.