An effective response to climate change must take shape and be in place in the next few years, the federal government's top climate change adviser says.
Professor Ross Garnaut 600-page draft report on climate change, of which the make-up of an emissions trading scheme (ETS) is a major focus, was released today.
Speaking at the report's launch in Canberra, Prof Garnaut said climate change was a "diabolical'' policy problem.
"While an effective response to the challenge would play out over the many decades, it must take shape and be in place over the next few years,'' he said.
"Without early and strong action, some time before 2020 we will realise we have indelibly surrendered to forces that have moved beyond our control.''
Prof Garnaut said climate change was the hardest policy problem in living memory.
Read the full report here.