POST-CARBON ERA

摘要

As a new era of energy industry regulation commences with the introduction of a carbon pricing mechanism and fixed carbon price of $23 a tonne, Australia's energy networks still face the specter of investment uncertainty. Companies emitting more than 25,000 tonnes a year of equivalent carbon dioxide will need to buy a carbon unit, or other eligible unit, for every tonne of CO_2e they emit. From 2015, the carbon price will transition to a 'cap and trade' emissions trading scheme, open to the international market. A multi-armed energy bureaucracy has erected around the business of reducing carbon emissions. The past year has seen the launch of an energy fund for coal-fired power generators, the formation of a security council advising on energy risks, and the chairing of a sector transition committee providing government consultation and oversight. The Federal Government's Clean Energy Package will be informed by an energy transition plan, while the Clean Energy Regulator willgovernor Bernie Fraser, will provide recommendations on pollution caps and trajectories by February 2014. The authority's first review of the carbon pricing mechanism is due by December 2016.