THE Federal Government’s Carbon Pollution Reduction Scheme
Green Paper canvasses options and preferred approaches on issues,
such as which industry sectors will be covered and how emission
caps will be set. It also includes ways to address the impacts on
Australian households, emissions-intensive trade-exposed industries
and other strongly affected sectors.
Public comment is sought until September 10, 2008, with the
release of draft legislation planned for December 2008. Comment
will then be sought on the legislation until February 2009, with
the bill introduced to Parliament in March. The scheme is due to
begin in 2010.
Principles of the emissions trading scheme:
- The scheme will be a ‘cap and trade’ scheme, i.e.
it will set an overall environmental cap by issuing a set number of
permits, and allow entities to trade permits, thereby putting a
price on carbon.
- The caps will be designed to place Australia on a low emissions
path in a way that best manages the economic impacts of transition,
while assuring our ongoing economic prosperity.
- The scheme will have maximal coverage of greenhouse gases and
sectors, to the extent that this is practical. The broader the
scheme’s coverage, the more cost-effectively it will reduce
greenhouse gas emissions, and more fairly spread the burden of such
reductions across the community.
- The scheme will be designed to enable international linkages,
while ensuring it suits Australia’s economic conditions.
The scheme design will address the competitive challenges facing
emission-intensive trade-exposed industries in Australia.
- The scheme will also address the impact on strongly-affected
industries.
Measures will be developed to assist
households—particularly low income households—to adjust
to the impact of carbon prices.
Send submissions to: Email:
emissionstrading@climatechange.gov.au
Carbon Pollution Reduction Scheme Green Paper Submission
Department of Climate Change, GPO Box 854, Canberra ACT 2601
