The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change released its...

The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change released its fourth report earlier this month, and with it some rather dire conclusions about the future of global warming.

But I doubt few of us would have predicted the intensity of debate that report has since triggered.

Both the government and the Opposition tried to claim the moral high ground on the issue of who's best placed to manage climate change, and above the roar from Canberra there were calls for the phasing out of coal-mining in Australia, and comparisons linking coal to asbestos.

It was, for better or worse, the week that the mining industry appeared to lose its grip on the social license of coal, Australia's number one export earner.

Not surprisingly the coal industry hit back this week, it says the economic clout that comes with coal means talk of phasing it out is fanciful.

But what of the future, do we now look to technology to make coal clean, or has the time come for an alternative?

And what of the other measures for limiting carbon emissions? What degree of faith can we put in the fledgling carbon trading markets that are now emerging?

Guests
Andrew Grant
Managing Director of CO2 Australia Ltd

Michael Molitor
Climate advisor

Further Information
CO2 Group Ltd

Presenter
Geraldine Doogue

Story Researcher and Producer
Scott Wales

Download at:
http://www.abc.net.au/rn/saturdayextra/stories/2007/1849867.htm