Australia Nixes Carbon Trading — Not Good.
Unfortunately, it appears that coal interests (Australia is the #1 producer) have won yet again. An ambitious bill was defeated by the Australian Parliament which would have cut greenhouse gas emissions by 25% in 10 years.
Not only this is a sad precedent for Australia (which has been virtually untouched by the recession, thanks to high commodity prices), it illustrates the scale of the battle we are up against. Big money, scares of job losses and special interest lobbying could very well defeat Cap and Trade in the US senate.
Related articles: VentureBeat, Treehugger