Sydney (dpa) – Relying on mining for income and coal for power is keeping Australia from reshaping its high-emissions economy to prosper in a carbon-constrained world, the head of an environmental lobbying group said Wednesday. John Connor's Climate Institute released an index that ranks countries on their ability to thrive when carbon emissions have to be paid for. France, Japan, Britain, South Korea and Germany lead an index that places Australia behind Russia, Argentina, South Africa and the United States. Connor said Australia was better prepared for change in 1995 than it is now. “We've gone backwards,” he said. “And one of the key reasons is that what might have been an asset in the 20th century is no longer an asset now in terms of cheap and polluting energy.” The Climate Institute rankings, produced jointly with the US-based General Electric Co, identified Australia as the only rich country to have slipped backwards in low-carbon competitiveness. “The economic blessings of the past, such as cheap but heavily polluting energy, will become the economic curses of the future,” he said. Australia has been rated as having the highest per-capita greenhouse gas emissions in the world. BM ShortURL: http://goo.gl/c7ufm Tags: Australia, Climate Change, Going Green Section: Going Green, Latest News, Oceana
