Australia plans to tax carbon first and trade later
Australia could phase in an emissions trading system by launching a tax that would later convert into a floating price, according to a cross-party proposal on Thursday.
The tax a fixed carbon price could be launched by 1 July 2012, as long as the proposal is passed into legislation this year. Trading would follow three to five years later, so in 2015 at the earliest.
While the tax is in place, Australian companies would be barred from using any international carbon offsets, such as certified emission reductions (CERs) and emission reduction units (ERUs), currently issued under the Kyoto protocol.
Once trading has started and the price is floating, some international offsets could be allowed. The quantity and type of offsets allowed could be dictated by the legislation.
The legislation could also delay the start of a trading system up to one year before its planned launch, depending on prices in the international carbon market.
The tax and the trading system would sweep in the energy, transport and industrial sectors, but exclude agriculture.
It would regulate all the six greenhouse gases included in the Kyoto protocol.
The proposal does not set out a level for the fixed carbon price, or whether there would be any price caps or collars during the later trading phase.
The proposal was made by the multiparty climate change committee, in charge of resurrecting plans to cap and price carbon emissions in Australia after a pure emissions trading proposal died amid political controversy last year.
The different political parties still take very different views on the level of the fixed price and potential links to the international carbon market. IS
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24 May 2012 21:02
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EDEM,ESGM
24 May 2012 21:02
|
EDEM,ESGM
