Australia seeks to lower carbon emissions from cars

SYDNEY (Reuters) - The Australian government issued a discussion paper on reducing automobile carbon emissions on Saturday, with recommendations such as providing financial incentives for manufacturing low-emission cars.

The vehicle fuel efficiency report released by Transport Minister Anthony Albanese and Environment Minister Peter Garrett recognized that there was no silver bullet for reducing carbon emissions in the transport sector.

The sector accounts for 14 percent of the nation's emissions, or 79.1 million metric tons.

"The federal government has put forward eight possible measures to reduce carbon emissions from Australian cars," the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) reported.

"It does not advocate any particular measure, but recommends considering different registration and stamp duty for new light vehicles based on their emissions."

Car makers could be directed to include information about carbon emissions and fuel consumption in their advertising. It also urged an environmental rating scheme for heavy vehicles.

The recommendations for reducing emissions in car-crazy Australia follows the federal government's promise to cut overall emissions by 60 percent by 2050.

Australia is the world's 16th biggest carbon polluter, producing about 1.5 percent of global emissions. The country is the fourth largest per-capita emitter, with five times more carbon pollution per person than China.

Prime Minister Kevin Rudd, who won power last November, has promised to set up a carbon trading system in Australia by mid-2010, covering 75 percent of the economy, to provide a financial incentive for business to clean up their pollution.

The government's climate adviser, Ross Garnaut, has urged Canberra to cut Australian greenhouse gas emissions by 10 percent on 2000 levels by 2020, and to set a carbon price of A$20 ($16.5) a metric ton in the first years of carbon trading from mid-2010.

The ABC said public submissions were being sought on the vehicle fuel efficiency report until early November.