Carbon pricing in Australia

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tax"", was introduced by the Gillard Government and became effective on 1 July 2012, and was in operation until it was repealed by the Australian senate on 17 July 2014.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 were1.0% 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. 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. Electricity demand had been falling and in 2012 was at the lowest level seen since 2006 in the National Electricity Market.