CLIMATE guru Ross Garnaut has urged support for the Government if it is ''bold enough'' to seek a double dissolution election on emissions trading.
Professor Garnaut also said the indications from Copenhagen would be consistent with an 18 per cent Australian emissions cut. He said it was important for Australia soon to introduce a price on carbon - but the present political situation ''makes that difficult in any form''.
Professor Garnaut gave general support to the Greens' recent compromise proposal for a fixed carbon price as an interim measure. The proposal was based on the report he did for the Government.
In a speech on the outlook for the global warming issue after Copenhagen, delivered to the annual conference of supreme and federal court judges, Professor Garnaut gave short shrift to the Opposition plan to avoid both an emissions trading scheme and a carbon tax.
''Enough work has been done for us to dismiss quickly purely regulatory approaches to the reduction of emissions. For any large reduction in emissions, these will be extremely costly compared with the market-based alternatives that rely on a price of emissions''.
While admitting the Copenhagen conference was a ''fiasco,'' Professor Garnaut was more upbeat about the outcome than many commentators. The commitments by developing countries, including China, represented substantial changes, he said.
But without a better deal at the next conference in Mexico in December, the cost for Australia meeting any particular target might be ''substantially above'' what was envisaged in his 2008 report.
Australia should consider a regional trading scheme of Western Pacific countries that did not depend on universal acceptance of binding commitments.
Its immediate neighbours, Indonesia and Papua New Guinea, were committed to strong action.
Professor Garnaut said while his review favoured a trading scheme over a carbon tax, the advantage had narrowed somewhat.
The ETS that emerged from the Government's negotiations with the Opposition fell ''a long way short'' of the ideal described in the review, he said.
In the wake of Copenhagen Australia should legislate for an ETS as soon as possible, ''realistically through a joint sitting after a double dissolution'' or with the Government gaining support in the Senate after a normal election.
The fixed price currently proposed by the Government for the first year of operation would be continued at higher rates in its second year and until a firm basis had been established through international agreements for setting Australian targets.
''As thoughtful citizens,'' Professor Garnaut said, ''let us all recognise that it is important soon to introduce a price on carbon; that the contemporary political environment makes that difficult in any form; that an imperfect ETS is better than delay; and be ready to support the Government if it is bold enough to go seek the dissolution of both houses on this issue at an early date.''