“A levy on bunker fuels for a trade dependent nation like Australia would add significant shipping costs to the costs of our imports and crucially our exports, making them less competitive,” said The Nationals’ Senator Ron Boswell today. “Both the World Bank and the European Commission reports propose a tax on emissions from international aviation and shipping which could raise between $8 billion and $25  billion a year towards climate aid for developing countries.” “Senator Wong did not rule out supporting such a tax in her answer to me yesterday in the Senate. On the one hand, the government says we have to take a clearly articulated and legislated ETS to Copenhagen and on the other, our foreign climate aid is to be a big secret. That is inconsistent.” “How much taxpayers’ money is Climate Change Minister Penny Wong taking with her to international climate change talks?” asked Senator Boswell today. “The World Bank’s World Development Report 2010 is the third high ranking international report in a week to call for enormous transfers of finance from developed countries like Australia to developing countries to assist with climate change.”  “Australians deserve to know that climate change policy is not just about a domestic ETS but also includes money transfers valued in billions of dollars from developed countries like Australia to developing countries.” The World Development 2010 Report states: ‘The funding required for mitigation, adaptation, and technology is massive. In developing countries mitigation could cost $400 billion a year over the next 20 years, and over the period 2010 to 2050 adaptation investments could average $75 billion a year.’ “Current mitigation funding is estimated by the World Bank to be less than $8 billion a year. This falls far short of the estimated mitigation financing needs in developing countries of $400 billion a year. Potential adaptation finance now available is less than $1 billion a year, against funding requirements of $75 billion a year over the medium term.”  “Other methods of climate finance aid include an internationally coordinated carbon tax and earmarking a proportion of domestic auction revenues each of which could raise around $15 billion a year.” “That still leaves hundreds of billions of dollars to be sourced from developed countries like Australia.” “The World Bank Report also vindicates concerns about carbon leakage noting that ‘some relocation of energy-intensive industries may already be happening to countries that do not face caps on their greenhouse gas emissions’.” “This lends weight to Coalition and industry arguments that warn of significant carbon leakage in a world where many countries do not have a carbon cost regime. Australia is right to be wary of a flawed ETS that would damage our exporters and send emissions offshore.” ENDS