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A carbon pricing scheme in Australia, commonly referred to as the "Carbon tax", was introduced by the Gillard Government and became effective on 1 July 2012, and was in operation until it was repealed by the Australian senate on 17 July 2014. The scheme required entities which emit over 25,000 tonnes per year of Carbon dioxide equivalent greenhouse gases and which were not in the transport or agriculture sectors to obtain emissions permits. The Department of Climate Change stated there were 260 liable entities in June 2013. Approximately 185 discrete companies paid the carbon tax in 2013. Permits are either purchased or issued free as part of industry assistance measures. The pricing was part of a broad energy reform package called the Clean Energy Plan, which aimed to reduce greenhouse gas emissions in Australia by 5% below 2000 levels by 2020 and 80% below 2000 levels by 2050. The plan set out to achieve these targets by encouraging Australia's largest emitters to increase energy efficiency and invest in sustainable energy. The scheme was administered by the Clean Energy Regulator. Compensation to industry and households was funded by the revenue derived from the charge. Initially the price of a permit for one tonne of carbon was fixed at $23 for the 2012–13 financial year, with unlimited permits being available from the Government. The fixed price rose to $24.15 for 2013–14. The government announced a transition to an emissions trading scheme in 2014–15, where the available permits will be limited in line with a pollution cap. The scheme primarily applied to electricity generators and industrial sectors. It did not apply to road transport and agriculture. Domestic aviation did not face the carbon tax per se, but was subject to an additional fuel excise levy of approximately 6 cents per litre. Falls in carbon emissions were observed following implementation of this policy. It was noted that emissions from sectors subject to the pricing mechanism were 1.0% lower and nine months after the introduction of the pricing scheme, Australia's emissions of carbon dioxide from electricity generation had fallen to a 10-year low, with coal generation down 11% from 2008 to 2009.〔(【引用サイトリンク】title=Australian co2 emissions hit 10 year low )〕 However, attribution of these trends to carbon pricing have been disputed, with Frontier Economics claiming trends are largely explained by factors unrelated to the carbon tax.〔(【引用サイトリンク】url=http://www.frontier-economics.com/_library/publications/frontier%20australia%20-%20impact%20of%20carbon%20price.pdf )〕〔(【引用サイトリンク】url=http://www.frontier-economics.com/_library/publications/frontier%20australia%20paper%20-%20overpowering.pdf )〕 Electricity demand had been falling and in 2012 was at the lowest level seen since 2006 in the National Electricity Market.〔(【引用サイトリンク】url=http://climatechange.gov.au/climate-change/greenhouse-gas-measurement-and-reporting/tracking-australias-greenhouse-gas-emissio-0/quarterly-update-australias-national-greenhouse-gas-inventory-march-13 )〕 ==History== In October 2006 the Stern Review on the effect of climate change on the world's economy was released for the British government. This report recommended a range of measures including ecotaxes to address the market failure represented by climate change with the least amount of economic and social disruption. In response to this report and subsequent pressure from the Kim Beazley led Labor opposition, in December 2006 the Howard Government established the Prime Ministerial Task Group on Emissions Trading, chaired by Peter Shergold, to advise on the implementation of an emissions trading scheme (ETS) in Australia. Following the release of the final report from this task group, the Howard government committed to introduce an ETS. Going into the 2007 federal election, the Labor opposition party presented itself as a "pro-climate" alternative to the Government, with Kevin Rudd, who had by then deposed Beazley as leader, famously describing climate change as "the great moral challenge of our generation". Labor differentiated itself from the government by promising an ETS with an earlier start date of 2010 rather than the 2012 timeframe advocated by Howard. It also promised ratification of the Kyoto Protocol, investment in clean coal and renewable energy, and slightly more aggressive targets for renewable energy.〔 Labor won the 2007 election, and on 3 December 2007 the Rudd Government signed the ratification of the Kyoto Protocol at the 2007 United Nations Climate Change Conference. By ratifying the Kyoto Protocol, Australia was committed to keeping emissions to no more than 108% of its 1990 emissions level by 2012. Australia's ratification came into effect on 11 March 2008.〔(Department of Climate Change and Energy Efficiency – Kyoto Protocol )〕 In September 2008, the Garnaut Climate Change Review, commissioned in April 2007 by Kevin Rudd when he was leader of the opposition, released its final report. Garnaut recommended a price between $20 and $30 per tonne of carbon dioxide (CO2) equivalent with a rise of 4% each year. On 16 July 2008, the Rudd Government released a green paper for its Carbon Pollution Reduction Scheme (CPRS), outlining the intended design of the scheme; a more detailed white paper was released on 15 December 2008. The CPRS received criticism from those who were both for and against action to mitigate climate change. Environmental lobby groups protested that the emissions reductions targets were too low, and that the level of assistance to polluters was too high. Industry and business lobby groups however argued for more permits and assistance to offset the economic impacts of the scheme on many enterprises, particularly given the context of the global financial crisis.〔 The Malcolm Turnbull led opposition supported the scheme in principle, although at times over 2009 they indicated disagreement with various details including the timing of implementation of the scheme, timing of the vote on the relevant legislation and on the level of assistance to be provided to polluting industries. The opposition was able to negotiate greater compensation for polluters affected by the scheme in November 2009.〔 Shortly before the Senate was due to vote on the relevant bill, leadership tensions in the opposition came to a head. On 1 December 2009 Tony Abbott defeated Malcolm Turnbull in a leadership challenge. Abbot immediately called a secret ballot on support for the ETS among coalition MPs, which was overwhelmingly rejected. The Coalition then withdrew their support for the carbon pricing policy and joined the Greens and Independents in voting against the relevant legislation in the Parliament of Australia on 2 December 2009.〔(【引用サイトリンク】title=Carbon pricing )〕 As the Rudd government required the support of either the Coalition or the Greens to secure passage of the bill, it was defeated in the Senate. In April 2010, the Government deferred the scheme to the post-2012 timeframe. In June 2010, Julia Gillard defeated Rudd in a leadership challenge thus becoming Prime Minister of Australia. Shortly afterwards she called a federal election. During the election campaign Gillard stated that she supported a price on carbon emissions and that she would prosecute the case for action for as long as she needed to win community support. However, she also indicated that she would not introduce carbon pricing until there was a sufficient consensus on the issue, and she specifically ruled out the introduction of a "carbon tax".〔 The result of the election left Australia with its first hung parliament in 70 years. To form a majority in the House of Representatives both of the major parties needed to acquire the support of cross-benchers, including the Greens. After two weeks of deliberation Julia Gillard had enough support to gain a majority including the support of the Greens and their single MP in the House, Adam Bandt. Julia Gillard, therefore, remained Prime Minister and Tony Abbott remained in opposition. The Productivity Commission was asked by the Gillard Government to report on the steps taken to address climate change by eight major economies. The report found that more than 1,000 climate policies were already enacted across the globe. It also supported a market-based carbon price as being the most cost-effective way to reduce emissions.〔 The report's findings were one of the major reasons that support for the carbon tax was provided by independent Tony Windsor.〔 Windsor made it clear that he would not support the clean energy legislation if it included a carbon tax on transport fuels. He did not want to penalise people who lived in rural areas, where there was no public transport as an alternative to private vehicles. One of the requirements for Green support was that the Gillard Government form a cross-party parliamentary committee to determine policy on climate change. Gillard honoured that agreement and on 27 September 2010 the Multi-Party Climate Change Committee (MPCCC) was formed, its terms of reference including that it was to report to Cabinet on ways to introduce a carbon price. The MPCCC agreed on the introduction of a fixed carbon price commencing 1 July 2012, transitioning to a flexible-price cap-and-trade ETS on 1 July 2015. Initially the price of permits is fixed and the quantity unlimited i.e. there is no cap; the scheme thus functions similarly, and is popularly referred to as a tax. In February 2011, the government proposed the Clean Energy Bill, which the opposition claimed to be a broken election promise. The Liberal Party vowed to overturn the bill if it was elected. The Clean Energy Plan was released on 10 July 2011.〔 The Clean Energy Bill 2011 passed the Lower House in October 2011 and the Upper House in November 2011 and was thus brought into law. The carbon price was brought into effect on 1 July 2012. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Carbon pricing in Australia」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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