Kevin Rudd, the Australian prime minister who won his recent election on a green platform (Nature News – subscription required) and signed Australia onto the Kyoto Protocol as his first act in office, now refuses to support a proposed 25-40% cut on 1990 emission levels by 2020. The worst part: he rejected the cut days after an Australian delegate to the UN climate conference in Bali promised support for it (Herald Sun).

What’s holding up Rudd’s vision of a greener Australia? A bad case of sticker shock — specifically, fear of spiking electricity prices. According to the Herald Sun, the Energy Supply Association of Australia has reported that cutting 30% of 2000 emissions levels by 2030 would raise power costs by 30%, and energy industry representatives are telling Rudd that a faster cut would be much more expensive because of current technological obstacles. So it turns out that Rudd is happy to agree to deep long-term cuts whose price tag is harder to predict, but he won’t ask Australians to get out their checkbooks in the next few years. For that, he says, he’ll need more economic advice.

A BBC survey (PDF) this year found that worldwide, “most people say they are ready to make personal sacrifices – including paying more for their energy – to help address climate change”. A whopping 81% of Australians agreed that prices needed to rise — a majority second to none in the developed world. But like Rudd’s long-term emissions pledge, the poll didn’t mention any specific price.

How high an electric bill would you pay – and insist that neighbors and businesses pay – to meet the 2020 target?

Anna Barnett