THE federal government's top climate change official has argues that the Copenhagen summit was not the failure many critics claim, comments that might raise questions about Prime Minister Kevin Rudd's rationale for shelving an emissions trading scheme.
Mr Rudd has given two justifications for delaying the ETS: the defeat of the scheme in the Senate and the disappointing outcome at Copenhagen, where countries failed to agree on a legally binding framework to reduce carbon emissions, The Australian Financial Review reports.
In his first public speech since the Prime Minister's about-turn, Department of Climate Change and Energy Efficiency secretary Martin Parkinson told a Property Council of Australia conference in Melbourne yesterday that while progress at Copenhagen was not as great as had been hoped, "significant gains have been made".
Reiterating a position he has repeatedly put forward this year, Dr Parkinson said the Copenhagen Accord included "historic achievements", such as a commitment by developed and developing nations to limit global warming to two degrees.
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