This week, China will launch the pilots of its Beijing and Shanghai emmissions trading schemes. But the operating environment for these schemes will be vastly different to that in Australia or the European…
Tony Abbott can have an emissions trading scheme and be a good conservative politician.
Dean Lewins/AAP
Perhaps the Abbott government can solve its climate change problem by revisiting an old Coalition policy. Before the 2013 election the Coalition promised to cut the “carbon tax”, introduce direct action…
China’s industrialisation has followed the same path, but the rules of the game have changed.
Jonathan Kos-Read
What can two periods of industrialisation nearly two centuries apart tell us about how economies change and the demands their change place on the planet? Today, China leads the wave of emerging economies…
When officials in the northern Chinese province of Hubei recently declared their dedication to cleaning up air pollution by giving up smoking, few were impressed by their grasp of the problem. But China…
California isn’t just controlling its own emissions, but the emissions it benefits from.
Kenneth Lu
Australia will not be linking its emissions trading scheme to California any time soon. But Australia will have to increase its emissions reduction targets to between 15-25% below 2000 levels by 2020…
Cheap emissions permits means industry hasn’t traded in its polluting ways.
David Davies/PA
Raphael Calel, London School of Economics and Political Science and Cameron Hepburn, London School of Economics and Political Science
When the carbon price collapsed to below €3 in April this year, EU policymakers sought to prop up carbon prices by a deal that would delay the release of carbon allowances (known as “backloading”). This…
Australia used to care about conservation but do cuts to the Biodiversity Fund show we’ve turned our back on nature?
Peter9914/Flickr
It will be no surprise that a recent analysis of biodiversity funding round the world found that Australia was among the 40 countries spending least in comparison to our global legacy of species. Now…
The reasons for compensating emissions-intensive trade-exposed industries have vanished; so should the compensation.
Dave Clarke
With the Rudd government announcing a faster conversion to a market-driven carbon price, it should be time to review the assistance provided to emissions-intensive, trade-exposed industries such as raw…
Over a million Australians are now green electricity generators: how much difference will the shift to an ETS make?
Heidi Blanton
There is little doubt that Kevin Rudd’s plan to bring forward international linking and trading of emission permits is a smart political move. It removes a key option for Tony Abbott. Now Mr Abbott is…
Reducing emissions with a trading scheme rather than a tax can be risky business.
Brian Yap
Prime Minister Kevin Rudd has told Australia we’re shifting to an emissions trading scheme one year earlier than anticipated, with Treasurer Chris Bowen suggesting it will address “cost of living pressures…