Australian Business Group Calls For 20% GHG Cut By 2020 - Howard Ridicules Same Goal By Activists

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A climate change business forum has called for a 20 per cent cut in greenhouse gas emissions by 2020. The National Business Leaders Forum on Sustainable Development is the first business group to nominate a short-term goal.

Prime Minister John Howard has ridiculed political opponents for supporting the same target.

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Mr Dunlop, a former energy industry executive, said he believed the 20 per cent goal should be a minimum. "We probably have less than five years before we cross the threshold into the arena of dangerous climate change," he told The Austalian Financial Review. "The trouble with the stuff the government is coming up with is that it focuses on the costs and doesn't focus on the business opportunities and job creation."

Mr Howard has committed himself to an emissions trading system but refuses to set any targets until economic modelling has been done. He said last month that a 20 per cent target by 2020 would cause a "Garrett recession", although Labor environment spokesman Peter Garrett does not officially support that goal

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http://www.smh.com.au/news/Business/Business-body-backs-20-emissions-target/2007/07/12/1183833656323.html