Australian gov't may introduce its own emission plan

CANBERRA, April 29 -- Australian government warned on Wednesday that if the proposed Emission Trading Scheme (ETS) falls over, the government may consider to introduce new laws to set inflexible greenhouse gas limits.

If the ETS did get knocked over, the government would have to find an alternative way to reduce emissions, to meet international obligations overseen by the United Nations, Parliamentary secretary for climate change Greg Combet said in a statement.

Combet said it would be difficult to get the ETS through the Senate.

"Opponents of the scheme should carefully consider the possible ramifications of other less flexible, efficient and cost effective policy responses," Combet said.

The government has introduced a draft legislation to the parliament to reduce gas emission. The government was waiting for the Senate to pass the scheme to become law later this year.

Australia's planned emissions trading scheme has proposed a five to 15 percent drop of greenhouse emissions from 2000 levels by 2020.