Australian Prime Minister John Howard ditched his long-standing opposition to a greenhouse gas reduction target for Australia with a pledge yesterday to set a national pollution limit next year.

But critics said Howard's new stance is nothing more than a ploy to negate the environment as an issue at elections due late this year.

Howard, leader of his center-right coalition government since 1996, also told an annual meeting of his ruling Liberal Party's national council that Australia, the world's worst greenhouse gas polluter per capita, would have a carbon-trading scheme in place by 2012.

"This target will be set next year," Howard told delegates at a Sydney hotel. "The scheme will be national in scope and as comprehensive as practicable, designed to take account of global developments and preserve the competitiveness of our trade-exposed, emissions-intensive industries."

Howard's Liberals are lagging in opinion polls behind the center-left Labor Party, which advocates a 60 percent cut in greenhouse gas emissions by 2050, and 20 percent by 2020.

Howard has ridiculed the plan as unrealistic, but he gave no clue yesterday what his reduction target would be.

An opposition lawmaker accused Howard of 11 years of inaction in government on climate change, and said a failure to set a reduction target before the election would show a lack of sincerity.

"If he was serious ... about climate change, he would be frank and tell the Australian people what his carbon-reduction target is before the election," Labor lawmaker Wayne Swan told reporters.

Howard's new commitment to set an emissions target reflects his close ally US President George W. Bush's proposal last week for 15 of the world's worst-polluting countries including Australia to agree to targets next year.

Source: China Daily/Agencies