Australia’s emissions scheme to cut 23 510 mining jobs by 2020 – council
miningweekly.com
By: Esmarie Swanepoel
22nd May 2009
JOHANNESBURG (miningweekly.com) – The Australian minerals industry could potentially lose 23 510 direct jobs by 2010 and 66 480 by 2030, owing the introduction of the carbon pollution reduction scheme (CPRS), the Minerals Council of Australia (MCA) warned on Friday.
The council said that the “adverse” employment impact of the CPRS, which aims to cut Australia’s carbon emissions by 25% by 2020, had been confirmed by a sector-wide economic modelling of the scheme.
The Minerals Council stated that the 2020 figure would represent an 11% drop in overall employment in the minerals sector, while the 2030 result was a 24% decrease.
A report by Concept Economics showed that Queensland would be most affected by the scheme, where about 11 400 jobs could be lost by 2020, and 34 090 by 2030, followed by New South Wales, which could shed 4 260 jobs in the next ten years, and 14 600 by 2030. Western Australia could lose some 3 410 jobs in 2020, and a further 5 750 in 2030.
Coal would be the hardest hit commodity, with 9 040 jobs lost in 2020, and 15 610 estimated to be lost to 2030. The iron-ore mining sector would lose 560 jobs in 2020, and a further 1 740 jobs in 2030.
The Australian government has committed to reduce Australia’s carbon pollution to 25% below 2000 levels by 2020, if the world agreed to an ambitious global deal to stabilise levels of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere at 450 parts per million carbon dioxide-equivalent or lower, by mid-century.
The target range of 5% to 15% on 2000 levels, which was announced in the CPRS White Paper in December 2008, involves reducing the carbon emissions of every Australian by at least one-third over the next decade.
MCA CEO Mitchell Hooke said that the proposed CPRS was “out of step” with global efforts to reduce emissions, other international trading schemes and the development of the low-emissions technologies needed to reduce emissions.
“It will impose the highest carbon costs in the world on Australia’s mineral exporters,” he said in a statement.
“We share government’s commitment to reducing emissions, but this modelling shows the CPRS is fundamentally flawed. By imposing the highest carbon costs in the world on Australia’s mineral exporters, it will eliminate jobs while failing to materially reduce global greenhouse gas levels.”
Hooke suggested that one change to the CPRS would deliver a cap-and-trade emissions reductions scheme, without the job destroying impact of the current design. He added that it should include a phased approach to emissions trading, with the number of carbon permits auctioned increasing over time.
Earlier this month, the Federal Government announced that the start of the CPRS had been delayed to July 2011, which Hooke said represented a stay of execution of the jobs that would be shed under the scheme.
“The simple message of this report its that the CPRS as it is currently designed will result in a transfer of exports from Australia to our international competitors.” |
