In the papers today, The Australian reports that Julia Gillard has admitted she led the push to shelve the Rudd government's proposed ETS.

The admission came, says the paper, as Labor sources confirmed the focus of the new PM's environmental policy would be on renewables – with big announcements on wind and solar slated ahead of the election.

The report adds that Gillard yesterday backed the need to put a price on carbon, but offered no timetable on delivering one.

The Financial Review says on its front page that Labor's new focus under Gillard will be on population and climate. It also quotes Gillard's comments to the Nine Network yesterday, that the introduction of an Australian ETS could be extended beyond 2013 if it the idea of putting a price on carbon hadn't gained "deep community consensus" by that time. And, as the paper points out in its editorial, "in these economically uncertain times," waiting until there is consensus on this issue could indeed take years.

The Age reports that outgoing ACTU president Sharan Burrow has taken a shot at the Greens, blaming their lack of willingness to compromise for the failure of the Rudd government's ETS to pass through the Senate.

''I would have thought that a price on carbon that you could ratchet up was exactly where we need to be environmentally and economically,'' Burrow told the paper.

''Yet the Greens were hanging out, it seems, for a 25 per cent target, which they could have got over time and we would have been in the global game.''

But The Age's Paddy Manning says it's unfair to blame the Greens for the ETS's failure. And he has a word of advice for Gillard: "It's time for Labor and the Greens to hoick sleeves and do a deal on climate change that will put a price on carbon and drag the Australian economy into the future.

"Climate is a wrecking ball, swinging through Australian politics with increasing weight and reach," says Manning. "It's a do-or-die election for the climate, and for the green economy that goes with it."

The Age is also reporting that, in the wake of last week's passage of the Building Energy Efficiency Disclosure Bill stipulating mandatory environmental standards for commercial buildings, the property industry is pushing for tax changes that will allow accelerated depreciation, as well as a review of the official energy-rating system for commercial buildings.