Tree planting and soil carbon are at the heart of the Coalition’s proposed plan for curbing Australia’s emissions by 5 percent by 2020.

Opposition Leader Tony Abbott would set up an Emissions Reduction Fund to pay farmers and businesses to reduce their emissions. He wants  soil carbons to account for a cut of 85 million tonnes per annum by 2020, a goal he says can be achieved by planting some 20 million trees.

While the Mineral’s Council is backing the plan, the government and Green Party are not so keen on it.

Greens Leader Bob Brown told the ABC that the Coalition’s plan to plant 20 million trees “while its own Regional Forest Agreements foster the destruction of Australia’s biggest forests” is incongruous.

Prime Minister Kevin Rudd said that by addressing climate change without a carbon trading scheme, Abbott will slug Australians with “one big mega-tax.”