Emissions results obfuscate success of Australia’s carbon tax
DOI: 10.1063/PT.5.027587
Sydney Morning Herald : The government of Australian prime minister Tony Abbott is pushing to repeal the nation’s carbon tax, claiming that it has failed to reduce overall emissions. Opponents point out, however, that emissions from industries not covered or only partly covered by the tax skew the results. While emissions rose in those industries, which include gas and coal mining, transportation, and agriculture, they actually fell in others, such as electricity-generating power plants, due to a drop in coal burning and an increase in renewable energy sources. Those who favor the tax point out that because certain carbon-emitting industries such as mining are expected to grow, the tax will prove essential to meet the bipartisan target of cutting Australia’s greenhouse gas emissions by 5% of 2000 levels by 2020.
