Sydney - The subsidy for households that install rooftop solar-energy systems are to double and companies are to start getting tax credits for planting trees, Australian officials said Tuesday. The measures are a belated response by Prime Minister John Howard's conservative government to the imperatives of curbing climate change. They also trump similar initiatives the opposition Labor Party has promised if it wins a general election expected at the end of the year.
The subsidy for rooftop solar panels is to double to 8,000 Australian dollars (6,596 US dollars) in a measure that is to cost 150 million Australian dollars over the next five years.
Around 25,000 Australian houses have solar heating - less than one-fifth of the level in Germany. The handouts would meet about 40 per cent of the cost of a solar-energy system. The rebate scheme was introduced in 2000.
Labor, which is leading in opinion polls, has offered interest-free loans of up to 10,000 Australian dollars per household rather than grants.
The Australian Business Council for Sustainable Energy welcomed the proposed grants, saying the handout would "start to bring the payback of the cost of a solar system within reach of your typical family."
Howard is a late convert to the notion that greenhouse-gas emissions are driving climate change but is still resisting international pressure to sign the Kyoto Protocol that commits 35 developed countries to binding emissions reduction targets.
Labor has promised to sign Kyoto if it wins office. The United States is the only other rich country to reject Kyoto.
