Garnaut Climate Change Review - Update 2011. Update Paper six: Carbon pricing and reducing Australia's emissions

Abstract

It is in our national interest to play its proportionate part in the world meeting what is now a goal that has been agreed by the international community: reducing global emissions to an extent that holds temperature increases to below 2 degrees Celsius. Australia has more to lose than any other developed country if this goal is not achieved. Australia has naturally a highly emissions-intensive economy, currently with far higher emissions per capita than any other developed country. Most other developed countries now have falling or steady emissions but, largely as a result of the contemporary resources boom, our emissions continue to increase rapidly. The naturally high emissions intensity of Australian production would not be a particular issue if there were deep international trade in entitlements generating comparable carbon prices over much of the global economy: unavoidable emissions costs would be embedded in international product prices, and Australia may be a large exporter of emissions-intensive products, and a large number of entitlements to emit greenhouse gasses.