Australian PM welcomes climate investors report

Australian Prime Minister Julia Gillard on Thursday welcomed a new international investor group report saying that it justified the government's plan to put a price on carbon. The Investor Group on Climate Change (IGCC), a body of 285 investors across the globe with about 20 trillion U.S. dollars of assets, outlined the urgent need for "clear, credible and long- term policy frameworks that incentives investments in low-carbon technologies". Gillard said investment opportunities in clean energy would come from putting a price on carbon from July 2012. "This investor group, representing 20 trillion U.S. dollars of assets, sees the economic opportunities right here in Australia," she told reporters in Canberra on Thursday. "That interest ... is telling us the story of what a clean energy future can look like." The IGCC's Australian representative, Frank Pegan, said in its report that those nations that had "clear and credible climate policies" would attract investment. "As and when governments around the world show leadership and reduce policy risk around climate change for investors, the investment flows will follow," he said. The report also backed the Australian federal government's decision to provide direct loans and grants for new clean energy projects to supplement the carbon pricing scheme, saying that "it had the benefit of allowing industry to gain confidence with the monitoring, reporting and trading elements of the scheme." The carbon pricing bills last week passed the House of Representatives in Canberra. The bills will now go to the Senate next month. They will pass with the support of the Greens, and the legislation will come into force on July 1 next year. The 24 U.S. dollars a tonne of carbon tax will start from July 1, 2012. The tax is set to increase 2.5 percent each year for three years, and will switch to Emissions Trading Scheme in 2015.