[LINK] Australia to Join European Emissions Trading System

[Tom Worthington]

The Australian Government and European Commission have agreed to link 
the Australian and European carbon emissions trading systems, by 1 July 
2018. Australian and European businesses will be able to buy and sell 
carbon units on the Australian emissions trading scheme and the European 
Union Emissions Trading System (EU ETS): 
http://europa.eu/rapid/pressReleasesAction.do?reference=MEMO/12/631&format=HTML&aged=0&language=EN&guiLanguage=en

The linking will require the minimum price set for carbon in Australia 
to be removed to make it compatible with Europe. The lower price of 
carbon in the European system may cause some adjustment problems for 
Australia.

The linking also has implications for how, and if, Australia runs its 
own on-line system for carbon trading. The Australian Government was 
tendering for a carbon trading system. But it may be simpler to use the 
European system directly. There have been problems with the security of 
the European system, but these should be resolved by 2018.


-- 
Tom Worthington FACS CP, 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 Lecturer, Research School of Computer Science,
Australian National University http://cs.anu.edu.au/courses/COMP7310/