Emission trading: developing rail industry foresight: R1.100

There is possibly no more prominent global issue than that of climate change. It is clear that scientific, if not necessarily public, opinion sees the issue of global warming as real. The majority of the governments of the world agree, while the new Australian government has placed climate change high on its agenda. Policy is clearly going to change. In Australia, the recently-elected Rudd government, as one of its first actions, ratified the Kyoto Protocol and sent a high-powered team to the December 2007 Bali conference on climate change, including the Prime Minister, Kevin Rudd. It is clear from the proceedings at this conference that there will be substantial policy emphasis regarding changes to the underlying conditions for those that use energy and emit carbon dioxide, in addition to other greenhouse gases(GHGs).