Australia Should Price Carbon Emissions at A$20-A$30 a Ton, Adviser Says
Australia should price carbon emissions at between A$20 and A$30 a ton, rising at 4 percent a year, when it introduces planned laws aimed at curbing emissions, government climate change adviser Ross Garnaut said.
The price should then float, “without caps or floors, in mid-2015 unless the independent regulator judges that there are insufficient international trade opportunities to secure liquidity and stability,” Garnaut wrote in a report released today. A framework document the government put out on Feb. 25 didn’t include a carbon price.
Prime Minister Julia Gillard wants to set a carbon price starting in July 2012 in preparation for a trading system that could begin as early as 2015. The opposition Liberal-National coalition, led by Tony Abbott, has vowed to fight the plan, saying it would add to household electricity bills.
A multiparty climate change committee, formed after a request from the Greens party, will recommend a strategy before the government introduces laws to parliament. The committee is due to meet tomorrow.
Australia, the world’s biggest coal exporter, has set a target of generating 20 percent of its power from renewable sources like wind and solar by 2020.
To contact the reporter on this story: Ben Sharples in Melbourne at bsharples@bloomberg.net
To contact the editor responsible for this story: Clyde Russell at crussell7@bloomberg.net
Rate this Page