On 16 July, the Government of Australia released a Green Paper for the creation of a Carbon Emissions Reduction Scheme. The strategy is based on three pillars: reducing Australia’s greenhouse emissions, adapting to climate change, and helping shape a global solution.
At the core of the Government’s strategy is an emissions trading scheme that should start in 2010. At least 70 per cent of the permits would be auctioned in the first years in order to create revenue to assist structural adjustment. Thirty percent of permits will be allocated for free to emissions-intensive trade-exposed activities, based on a simple formula that will take account of the extent of assistance required. No barriers will be imposed on who purchases permits.
The Green Paper maintains that Australia can maintain economic prosperity while making emissions cuts, and that implementing a trading scheme is necessary for maintaining competitive advantage. However, it makes clear that business that has not already factored in a carbon-constrained future will meet with limited sympathy – but early action will be rewarded.
See full Press Release.
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