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- A new report from RMIT University says Australian businesses need more support to achieve net zero emissions, which includes a reinstated carbon tax
- According to the report, over 70 per cent of Australia’s carbon emissions come from the business sector
- The report said a carbon tax is widely agreed as the most effective mechanism for reducing emissions
- Currently, carbon is priced in international markets this means that it will effectively be applied to Australian produced carbon via our exports
A new report from RMIT University has said Australian businesses need more support to achieve net zero emissions, which includes a reinstated carbon tax.
According to the report, over 70 per cent of Australia’s carbon emissions come from the business sector, and there is an overwhelming agreement that a clearer and more consistent Government policy is needed to support the 2015 Paris Agreement.
The national emissions target is to reach net zero by 2050, however, the report notes that an effective target to adhere to international obligations of the Paris Agreement would be net zero by 2035.
Lead author of the report and climate change theme leader at RMIT’s Business and Human Rights Centre, Leanne Morrison, said that while many Australian businesses are developing their own policies, they would welcome clearer government guidance and more consistent nationwide regulation.
“Through interviews with sustainability and climate change managers in many large Australian companies, we keep hearing that they are establishing their own emissions policies,” Dr Morrison said.
“It is clear that there’s a real lack of guidance at the national level and much of the public discourse purporting that businesses don’t want more regulation or restrictions is incorrect.
“We are calling on the Australian Government to embrace these recommendations as a concrete pathway towards a national net zero emissions target.”
One of the recommendations to help reach net zero by 2035 is to reintroduce a carbon price mechanism.
The report said a carbon tax is widely agreed as the most effective mechanism for reducing emissions.
“While pricing carbon has suffered a rocky history in Australia, it is now an international norm, and Australia must adopt carbon pricing or risk revenue loss,” the report said.
Currently, carbon is priced in international markets, this means that it will effectively be applied to Australian produced carbon via our exports.
An issue with this system is that without a domestic price on carbon, the revenue of this pricing will not stay in Australia but be paid via ‘carbon duties’ applied by other countries.
Notably, the report noted that Australia’s brief introduction of a carbon tax under the Gillard government of 2012 reduced emissions by two per cent, while the economy grew five per cent and employment also grew by around 200,000 jobs.
This program was short-lived and scrapped in 2013 by the Liberal Government, following this, emissions began to rise again.
The introduction of a carbon tax under the Scott Morrison government is highly unlikely. In announcing the government’s plans to reach net zero the Prime Minister singled out the tax.
“Our plan is built on a set of key principles; the most important being technology, not taxes,” he said.
“Unlike Labor, we won’t introduce a carbon tax that drives Australian jobs overseas and punishes the most vulnerable in our community through higher prices for electricity and other essentials.”
Just recently, academics from Melbourne’s Monash University have created the ‘Real Carbon Price Index’ to track fees per tonne of carbon produced by a country.
The report found that to meet the goals of the Paris Agreement, a price of $50 (A$66.58) to $100 (A$133.15) per tonne of carbon emissions needs to be enacted.
According to the Real Carbon Price Index, the worldwide cost of carbon emissions has climbed from $0 in the 1980s to just US$4.42 (A$5.89) per tonne now.
The Australian Climate Roundtable’s members have also stated it is vital for the future to reach the Paris Agreement targets.
“The scale of costs and breadth of the impact of climate change for people in Australia is deeply concerning and will escalate over time,” the group said.
“It is in Australia’s national interest that we do all we can to contribute to successful global action to minimise further temperature rises and take action to manage the changes we can’t avoid.”
Australian Conservation Foundation CEO Kelly O’Shanassy said cutting emissions over the next decade matters when it comes to climate change.
“Our government can either take climate action now and cement Australia as a global clean energy superpower or stay in the slow lane and risk everything,” she said.
“We cannot afford to delay any longer.”
