Australian carbon policy: two steps forward, one step backwards?

Australia has a history of ever-changing climate change-related initiatives and policies ever since the nation actively participated in the Rio Earth Summit in 1992, endorsing the Summit goals that were formed by the desire for sustainable development. Australia also joined the UNFCCC and later signed the Kyoto Protocol supporting greenhouse gas (GHG) reduction. However, even before the Rio Summit, climate change was on the agenda in Australia. In 1989, in the lead-up to the 1990 Australian federal election, both leading political parties discussed the introduction of GHG reduction policy. A range of measures aimed at reducing Australia’s GHG emissions have been on the federal- and state-level agendas for the last two decades. Successive Australian governments have been committed to the introduction of either a carbon tax or an emissions trading scheme (ETS) designed to mitigate climate change. There has been some experience with the deployment of ETSs in Australia. Some of the Australian GHG mitigation policies were successfully implemented, some were introduced and then repealed and some never reached the implementation stage. This article examines the current Australian climate change regime including the Direct Action Plan, Emissions Reduction Fund and National Greenhouse and Energy Reporting policy. The Australian climate change initiatives are examined with reference to the forest policy to assess the most significant aspects of the current regime. The comparative perspective is necessary to identify effectiveness or otherwise of the Australian policy in GHG mitigation. Such critical examination of the Australian regime allows us to trace progression of the GHG mitigation efforts specifically in the light of the Paris agreement signed by Australia. However, the current state of Australian climate policy can only be described as regressive in nature rather than providing progression towards climate change mitigation.