Exclusive from Robert J Lee in Canberra

turnbull-trading

The Coalition Government, with the aid of Greens and Labor secretly passed the Emissions Trading Scheme legislation in the senate on December 3, the last day of sitting in 2015.

This was the day before the Paris Climate Conference , called COP 21, got underway at which an agreement to keep the global temperature increase to 2 degrees was signed by 189 countries, including Australia.

The ETS, in effect the ALP’s Carbon Tax comes into effect on July 1, the day before the Federal election.

One hundred and fifty companies representing half of Australia’s total carbon dioxide emissions will be capped by legislation at their highest level of emissions between 2009-10 and 2013-14.

The caps specifically include the electricity sector and the Australian Carbon Credit Units (ACCU’s) which were created by Julia Gillard in 2011.

If these companies emit more than their caps they have to buy ACCU’s which no doubt will affect the bottom line of the companies, thus the cost will be passed onto consumers.

The caps imposed on 150 companies are described by the government as a “safeguard mechanism” to support the Emissions Reduction fund that the centrepiece of the Direct Action Plan in which companies bid at auction for the right to be paid to reduce their emissions.

These auctions have so far resulted in 143 million tonnes of abatement at an average price of $12.10 per tonne, which is much lower than has been forecast by the scheme’s opponents.

The interesting question is why no one is talking about this discredited scheme.

Obviously the 150 companies involved know about it, and it’s all described on the government website, but the fact that Australia has legislated an emissions trading scheme is virtually a secret.

It is no secret however that Malcolm Turnbull for years, has been waiting anxiously for the scheme to become law so his private emissions trading company with offices in Sydney can grab a part of the action.

Further information by Alan kohler in The Australian: – http://www.theaustralian.com.au/business/opinion/alan-kohler/australias-secret-ets-starts-in-five-weeks/news-story/7f1de2a63db3e8d4a12066f31edcf640