Essay by Eric Worrall
Hands up who wants to invest in Australia?
Australia will have a carbon price for industry – and it may infuse greater climate action across the economy
Published: March 30, 2023 12.44pm AEDT
Frank Jotzo
Professor, Crawford School of Public Policy and Head of Energy, Institute for Climate Energy and Disaster Solutions, Australian National UniversityAustralia is about to take a big, constructive step on climate change policy: we will have a carbon price for the industry sector, under the safeguard mechanism.
It comes nine years after the Abbott Coalition government abolished Labor’s carbon price. The safeguard mechanism lay as a sleeper for many years – legislated in large parts under the Coalition government, but kept ineffective due to how it was implemented.
The mechanism will become effective as a so-called “baseline and credit scheme”, putting a price signal on about 30% of Australia’s greenhouse gas emissions. It will create a sizeable financial incentive to cut emissions in industry, even though it also relies on land-based carbon offsets.
Under the parliamentary compromise this week between Labor, the Greens and some crossbenchers, the legislation will prescribe that overall emissions from industrial facilities covered by the scheme cannot rise over time.
Implementation of the safeguard mechanism bodes well for future climate policy in Australia. The policy does not have bipartisan support but the Dutton opposition is not vocal about it.
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If imposing a carbon tax in itself wasn’t enough to kill coal and gas, the greens are boasting their deal to pass the carbon tax has made future coal and gas projects a lot harder;
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Making it harder to fund coal and gas | The targets will also be applied to many government agencies. Significantly agencies such as Export Finance Australia, Infrastructure Australia and the Northern Australia Infrastructure Fund will now find it harder to back new coal and gas.
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Read more: https://greens.org.au/climate-crisis
These new costs and attacks on company profits are being imposed in a year the World Bank describes as “A second year of sharply slowing growth”.
A Second Year of Sharply Slowing Growth
Global growth is projected to slow to its third-weakest pace in nearly three decades, overshadowed only by the 2009 and 2020 global recessions. Investment growth in emerging market and developing economies is predicted to remain below its average rate of the past two decades. Any additional adverse shocks could push the global economy into recession. Small states are especially vulnerable to such shocks because of their reliance on external trade and financing, limited diversification, elevated debt, and susceptibility to natural disasters. Immediate policy action is needed to bolster growth and investment, including redirecting existing spending, such as agricultural and fuel subsidies.
Read more: https://www.worldbank.org/en/publication/global-economic-prospects
There is an old proverb, you catch more flies with honey than vinegar. The politicians currently in charge of Australia seem utterly clueless about how businesses make investment decisions.
The politicians in charge of Australia genuinely seem to believe punishing businesses with higher costs, new taxes and energy shortages (when the gas runs out, or the coal plants are decommissioned) will overcome their reluctance to invest in green technology.