The government of the ACT has said that it will set a target of cutting greenhouse gas emission by 40% by 2020 and 80% by 2050, based on 1990 levels. The ACT will commit to carbon neutrality by 2060 and with peak per capita emissions by 2013.

The ACT government will also require regular reporting of emission trends to the ACT Legislative Assembly, establish of a Climate Change Council for advice on response to climate issues and encourage of voluntary action.

Simon Corbell, the ACT Minister for the Environment, Climate Change and Water said that "Governments have a responsibility to act on this issue, and the ACT Labor Government is leading Australia on reducing our carbon footprint by increasing the uptake of renewable energy and increasing energy efficiency in Canberra homes and businesses."

Curtin University of Technology is heading a new $8 million space technology partnership that will address the issue of climate change with the use of its Global Navigation Satellite System Research Laboratory.

According to Professor Peter Teunisssen, the lead scientist on the project, “The new space technology program in which we will be involved is a vital step towards improving our understanding of climate change in Australia and will play a critical role in the way we cope with changes to our environment.”

As well as the Curtin University of Technology in Perth, participants in the project include RMIT University, the University of New South Wales, the Bureau of Meteorology, Electro Optic Systems Space System, GPSat Systems Australia Pty Ltd., the National Space Organisation of Taiwan and NOAA’s World Data Centre for Metrology.

Brian Walsh, director of winemaking at Yalumba, has told business leaders in Adelaide that a rise in temperatures could prevent the growth of some cooler grape varieties, such as shiraz and riesling, for which South Australia’s Barossa Valley is famous. ”Basically, the Barossa will disappear,” he said.

A similar observation has been made by viticulturist, Frank van de Loo, at the Mt Majura vineyard near Canberra. 

Mr van de Loo has recorded grape harvest days each year. "Over the last 20 vintages, this is our 21st vintage, we’ve been coming in at an average of 2.4 days earlier each year," he says. "Of course the curve bounces around a lot from year to year depending on the individual season, but it has a very clear trend. Before long, we’ll have to quit growing chardonnays."

Mr Walsh pointed out that regions in Italy and France grow wine in hot arid conditions similar to Australia, and peolple there choose wine from a particular region. But Australians choose wine based on the grape varieties, like shiraz, reisling or chardonnay and in the future it may not be possible to grow these varieties in regions like the Barossa.

He said that winemakers need to start looking at varieties for hot, dry climates now and not wait 30 years and say ”I wish I’d done something”.

”It’s a risk strategy and out of some of those times we might just stumble across something which is a fantastic idea we haven’t thought of yet," he said.

Australian Federal Opposition Leader Malcolm Turnbull has unveiled a three-part climate change policy which aims to achieve annual reductions of carbon pollution of equivalent of at least 150 million tonnes by 2020.

Launching the new policy at a Young Liberals convention on Saturday, Mr Turnbull said that the Liberal Party’s plan would include measures to encourage improved energy efficiency in buildings, where he says 23 per cent of greenhouse gases originate.

The plan would also increase investment in new technologies. "We have to invest in industrial scale carbon capture and storage, industrial scale solar, industrial scale geothermal energy," Mr Turnbull said.

But the main thrust of the policy would be biosequestration of carbon which could deliver ”large gains in agricultural productivity, environmental quality and energy security”.

Leading environmental scientists, including 2007 Australian of the Year Tim Flannery and author of the Gaia hypothesis James Lovelock, also advocate biosequestration in the form of "biochar" or "agrichar", as the best way of limiting global warming.

The Australian Federal Opposition has offered the Government support on tackling climate change provided that the Government agrees to certain policies.

The Opposition’s conditions include making sure that low-income families are protected from higher energy costs, protecting the world’s great rainforests and revising the renewable energy target to one which includes the effects of using low-emission fossil fuels.

The Opposition move followed the release of an interim report by Professor Garnaut which advocates a target of 60 percent greenhouse gas reduction by 2050 with an interim target for 2020 to be set this year  The Report goes on to say that if, at any stage. other developed countries adopt a target which is higher than 60%, Australia should do do too. Professor Garnaut found that Australia has an "exceptional sensitivity to climate change" but also an "exceptional opportunity to do well in a world of effective global mitigation".