Carbon scheme not the answer to emissions reduction

Europe's carbon trading scheme is not a successful model for Australian Government to implement, Andreas Huebner, senior managing director for Lazard in Germany has told an audience at the Conference of Major Superannuation Funds 2013.

Huebner said that while he believed something should be done to reduce carbon emissions, Europe's carbon trading scheme had not proven its worth.

Progress required an attitudinal shift in how energy was created, used and distributed and not "charging people for crazy charges or getting people to generate energy which is useless", he said.

Germany had 30 per cent of the world's solar panels, Huebner noted, despite its reputation as a less-than-sunny geographical location.

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He said Europe had ruined its pension system.

"You should defend yours because we are jealous that you have it … and you should do everything you possibly can to not let politicians destroy it," he said.

George Sigular, managing director and founding partner of Sigular Guff (USA), said that while America's shift to natural gas was not a solution, it was happening rapidly and would reduce the use of carbon.

"Every man, woman and child in the United States right now uses 35 pounds of coal a day, but that number's going down," he said.