Carbon Pollution Reduction Scheme

The Carbon Pollution Reduction Scheme was a proposed cap-and-trade system of Emissions trading for anthropogenic greenhouse gases, due to be introduced in Australia in 2010 by the Rudd government, as part of its Climate change policy. It marked a major change in the Energy policy of Australia. The policy began when the Australian Labor Party was in opposition and the six Labor-controlled states commissioned an independent review on Energy policy, the Garnaut Climate Change Review, which published a number of reports. Labor, after winning the federal election and forming a government, published a Green Paper for discussion and comment. The Federal Treasury then modelled some of the financial and economic impacts of the proposed scheme. The Rudd Government published a final white paper on 15 December 2008. The Government had announced that the legislation was intended to take effect in July 2010 and the legislation for the CPRS was introduced in parliament where it failed to gain adequate support and was twice rejected creating a double dissolution election trigger. After a bitter political debate which saw former opposition leader Malcolm Turnbull lose his leadership being replaced by the anti-CPRS Tony Abbott the now stymied CPRS idea was dubbed "a great big new tax" and the Rudd government failed to call an election on it as the idea lost public support. Labor had decided to defer the CPRS.

In the election year of 2007, both the Liberal-led Coalition government and the Labor opposition promised to introduce carbon trading. Opposition leader Rudd commissioned the Garnaut Climate Change Review on 30 April, while Prime Minister John Howard announced his own plan on 4 June, after the final report of the Prime Ministerial Task Group on Emissions trading. Labor won the election on 24 November.

The draft Garnaut Report, issued on 4 July, was only one of many inputs into the policy-making process. The Labor government issued a "Green Paper" on 16 July, describing the intended design of the carbon trading scheme. Draft legislation will be released in December 2008, to become law in 2009.

1. Carbon Pollution Reduction Scheme - Think Change - This program is the main driver of the Government plan to reduce Australia greenhouse gas emissions. Administered by the Department of Climate Change and Energy Efficiency.
2. Carbon trading Latest News EcoGeneration The - Wed, 28 April 2010 The introduction of Federal Government s Carbon Pollution Reduction Scheme has been postponed until the end of 2012.
3. Carbon Pollution Reduction Scheme - DAFF - The Australian Government believes the Carbon Pollution Reduction Scheme CPRS is the cheapest and most effective way of tackling climate change and is committed to its emission
4. Carbon Pollution Reduction Scheme Australia Low Pollution - The Australian Government released the White Paper on Monday 15 December 2008. The paper outlines the final design of the Carbon Pollution Reduction Scheme and the medium-term

1. 2010-08-24T23:56:42Z : Kyoto Carbon Offsetting Moves from Tragedy to Farce - Huffingtonpost.c - and heavily polluting factories had already shown the scheme to considerable pressure from governments and carbon traders to open the floodgates to all sorts of sub-prime emission reduction dreck . ... (Huffingtonpost.com)
2. 2010-09-03T04:53:50Z : Australia Greenslide may not help ease pollution - Terra Daily - But Rudd twice failed to get his flagship emissions trading scheme ETS through parliament and passed up Labor wants companies to pay for their carbon pollution, but is vague on detail. The rival coalition is ... (Terra Daily)
3. 2010-09-08T07:54:01Z : Climate right for change to carbon debate - ABC Online - What we need to take stock of though is the mistakes made with the CPRS Carbon Pollution Reduction Scheme , where we tried to get ahead of the rest of the world and foist on the biggest wealth generator in the country, ... (ABC Online)
4. 2010-09-07T14:07:26Z : Miners waiting and watching as carbon comes back in play - Sydney Morn - The Greens have extracted an agreement with the Gillard government that puts a carbon policy back on the political agenda after the carbon pollution reduction scheme fell over in April - just before the mining tax ... (Sydney Morning Herald)