Gas-fired power generation in Australia is under threat from a combination of LNG exports and the uncertain future of the controversial carbon pricing mechanism. In the nine months since the scheme was introduced last July with an initial carbon tax of A$23 (US$22.20 per ton), gas-fired generation has increased by 9.5% and coal-fired output dropped by 8%. But the drive to promote cleaner energy is in danger of stalling: Not only could Australia's carbon price plunge into the single digits with the scheduled link in 2015 to Europe's moribund carbon market, the carbon abatement scheme's very existence is in jeopardy. Opinion polls show the minority Labor government is set for defeat in September elections at the hands of the opposition coalition under Tony Abbott, who has repeatedly vowed to ax the scheme (WGI Aug.22' 12).
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