My submission to the Senate Select Committee on Climate Policy is here. Here is the abstract:
This submission is on the Australian Government’s Exposure Draft Legislation for the implementation the Carbon Pollution Reduction Scheme (CPRS), and Australia’s climate policy in general.
This submission is primarily concerned with two issues. Firstly we shall look at the issue of achieving international cooperation to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. We shall examine how this relates to the targets in the CPRS, and the approach for choosing targets, based on “scheme caps and gateways”. This relates to items (1) (c) and (1) (d) of the terms of reference.
Secondly we examine the issue of what is the best instrument for a carbon price signal. We conclude that an emission trading scheme with a “price floor” is the most appropriate policy for Australia. This relates to items (1) (a) and (1) (d) of the terms of reference.
Summary of Recommendations
We have two key recommendations.
- To not set a lower bound for Australia’s emissions after 2015. We therefore recommend the removal of paragraphs 2(b) and 3(b) from Section 15 of the Exposure Draft Legislation.
- To introduce a floor in the carbon price. The price floor could be implemented by either altering Section 129 of the Exposure Draft Legislation, or by altering Section 103 of the Exposure Draft Legislation.
