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| Southeast Asia |
| CO2 tax by 2014 in Indonesia |
| 2009-12-09 |
| [Straits Times] INDONESIA will likely introduce a carbon tax on polluting industries before the government's tenure ends in 2014, the head of its delegation to climate talks in Copenhagen said on Tuesday. Indonesia, where deforestation and forest fires led to the World Bank naming it the planet's third largest emitter of greenhouse gases, is seen as an important player in the fight against climate change. Indonesia's Finance Ministry is considering a green paper that recommends a carbon tax of 80,000 rupiah (S$11.82) per tonne of CO2, and increasing the levy by 5 per cent per year to 2020. The head of Indonesia's delegation, Rachmat Witoelar, said he was confident the government would implement such a tax before 2014. 'I think this is a great idea but we have to be careful because imposing a burden on the general population is not wise at this moment,' he told Reuters in an interview. 'It should be done eventually, certainly within the tenure of this administration, by 2014.' Delegates from nearly 200 countries are in Copenhagen for the Dec 7-18 talks to hammer out a deal aimed at slowing global warming. Steps by big developing nations to rein in the growth of their planet-warming emissions are a key part of any new pact, the United Nations says. |
| Posted by:Fred |