CANBERRA (Reuters) - Australia's government will delay a planned carbon emissions trading scheme by a year to mid-2011, and will offer more support to major polluting industries to help them adapt, Prime Minister Kevin Rudd said on Monday.
The government would keep the country's interim 2020 emissions reduction target, currently for a cut of between 5 and 15 percent based on 2000 levels, but would increase it to 25 percent if the world agreed to similar reductions, Rudd said.
Major emissions industries and political opponents had complained about the planned July 1 next year start of the scheme, saying it would hamper an economic recovery as Australia teeters on the edge of recession amid the global slowdown.
($1=1.357 Australian Dollars)
(Reporting by Rob Taylor)
