On 10 July 2011, the Prime Minister released the Federal Government’s ‘Clean Energy FuturePlan’ (Plan).
The centrepiece of the Plan is the introduction of a carbon price starting at $23 per tonne of carbon pollution on 1 July 2012. This price will be payable by Australia’s 500 most carbon-intensive businesses in thestationary energy, waste, rail, domestic aviation, shipping, industrial processes and fugitive emissions sectors for every tonne of carbonpollution they produce.
A fixed carbon price will remain in place for 3 years at which time, on 1July 2015, the fixed price will be determined by the market under a cap-and-trade emissionstrading system. In this briefing, Maddocks identifies the Plan’s key features and examines issues arising from the scheme likely to be of particular significance for business.