[LINK] Australia/EU Climate Change Symposium Looks at On-line Trading

[Tom Worthington]

Greetings from the Australian National University in Canberra, where I 
am attending a symposium on "Climate Change and Energy Policy in Europe 
and Australia": 
http://ces.anu.edu.au/events/climate-change-and-energy-policy-europe-and-australia

This was well timed with the passing of the Australian carbon pricing 
legislation through the House of Representatives yesterday. There is 
very much a sense of celebration and that US and Chinese governments 
will now follow Australia's lead.

The European Union (EU) is starting the third phase of its emissions 
trading scheme. There have been problems with the system previously, 
with too many free permits issued to polluters, lowering the price: 
http://www.nber.org/papers/w15572

Also the security of the EU on-line trading system was compromised: 
http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn20012-black-market-steals-half-a-million-pollution-permits.html

Australia should be able to avoid these problems. Firstly a fixed price 
is being initially, so the scheme can be bedded in before there is 
trading. Secondly, Australasia's IT professionals should be able to 
build a secure system. In particular the students I have been teaching 
ICT Sustainability to for the last two years should be able to assist: 
http://www.tomw.net.au/ict_sustainability/


-- 
Tom Worthington FACS CP HLM, TomW Communications Pty Ltd. t: 0419496150
PO Box 13, Belconnen ACT 2617, Australia  http://www.tomw.net.au
Liability limited by a scheme approved under Professional Standards 
Legislation

Adjunct Senior Lecturer, Research School of Computer Science,
Australian National University http://cs.anu.edu.au/courses/COMP7310/