Moreland Energy Foundation

We've had a few weeks now to get familiar with the Government's carbon pricing package (our summary is here). Apart from the warm feeling you'll get from knowing that your Government is finally taking steps to help the world reduce emissions and avoid dangerous climate change, what does it mean for you?

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The carbon tax...no, don't switch off, we understand. It’s too political. Too complicated.

Many of us don’t have time to read all those fact sheets, pore over complex analyses and suffer through the political posturing of the major parties.

 But this policy will in all likelihood be the major issue at the next election. How will you decide if it’s worth supporting?

 In this video blog, our Energy Policy Advocate Eli Court gives you six compelling reasons that you should support a price on pollution in Australia. All in less than 140 characters. For you social media lovers, that will fit into a single Tweet!

So, after all the waiting, we now have the carbon price package laid out before us. In short, MEFL believes that the policy is an excellent start to reducing Australia's emissions, and to transforming Australia's economy to take advantage of clean energy opportunities. See our media release for our full response.

Over the next few weeks, we will post updates on this blog, with detailed analysis of each element of the package. But for starters, here's a quick rundown of the basics.

What is a carbon price?

What will the carbon price mean for me?

If people are compensated, what’s the point?

What is the Coalition’s ‘direct action’ plan?

Who pays?

Will jobs be lost?

Why are we bothering? It doesn’t really matter what we do does it?

Shouldn’t we wait until the rest of the world acts? Won’t it be bad for our economy?

Will a carbon price disadvantage our industries compared to overseas competitors?

Climate action in Australia depends on Federal MPs, who will be watching carefully over the next few months to see where public opinion is heading.

If you're one of the majority of Australians who support climate action, contact your Federal Member of Parliament and/or the members of the Multi-party Committee on Climate Change (MPCCC) to tell them you support putting a price on carbon pollution.

Though most details of the Gillard Government's proposed carbon pricing policy are yet to be decided, public debate is well and truly under way. Activist group Getup is planning a demonstration this Saturday outside Julia Gillard's offices at Treasury Gardens in Melbourne, to show support for climate action and a clean energy future (see details here).

With all the political posturing on this issue, it is hard to get a clear idea of the actual issues. Here's our 30 second run down of the key points.

Prime Minister Julia Gillard has promised to push hard for the introduction of some form of national carbon pricing in 2011, and this week her Minister for Climate Change Greg Combet gave us a glimpse of what that form may be in an address to the Investor Group on Climate Change Forum.

This post will outline Mr Combet's proposed approach and discuss the two most widely adopted forms of carbon pricing around the world, carbon taxing and emissions trading.

The climate talks in Cancun, Mexico, are in progress and despite predictions that 2010 will be the hottest year on record, and the increasing likelihood that we are heading for a very unpleasant climate scenario indeed, hopes that the world will reach a global deal are low.  What can the world expect from Cancun?

The last month has been a roller-coaster ride for the Federal Government’s proposed Carbon Pollution Reduction Scheme (CPRS).

In early November the Government and the Opposition agreed on a number of amendments to the CPRS in an attempt to get the legislation through the Senate. Although that agreement fell apart when Malcolm Turnbull was replaced by Tony Abbot as the Opposition Leader, and the Senate refused to pass the amended laws, the Government has now adopted those amendments as part of its policy position.

Most of the amendments are about greater compensation to households and big polluters, and permanently excluding agriculture from the Scheme.

However, in a welcome move, changes were made to ensure that voluntary actions by individuals to reduce their greenhouse gas emissions will be taken into account when setting scheme caps, and hence will lead to actual reductions in emissions. Equally, all GreenPower purchases will now be considered, not just those beyond a 2009 baseline.

The details about how this would be delivered are still uncertain, and MEFL is concerned that there could be a delay of many years between when voluntary emissions reductions take place and when the emissions cap is reduced.

The Government has vowed to reintroduce the legislation in February and there’s little hope that the laws will be passed as is. Whatever happens, MEFL will continue to work with other environment groups to ensure that voluntary action by communities is recognised as a vital part of Australia’s efforts to tackle climate change.

Read our recent media release on the CPRS.

MEFL has joined with a number of other community organisations - the Total Environment Centre, CHOICE, WWF Australia, the Australian Conservation Foundation, the Alternative Technology Association, and Environment Victoria - in a campaign to fix a serious flaw in the federal government's Carbon Pollution Reduction Scheme.

Specifically, MEFL has concerns with the failure of the proposed scheme to recognise the additional action undertaken by individuals to reduce the nation's emissions.

Under the proposed Carbon Pollution Reduction Scheme (CPRS) voluntary actions merely count towards the required targets, subsidising the big polluters' activities and limiting our national climate change efforts. The joint campaign calls for the voluntary actions that individuals, organisations, state and local governments choose to make to reduce carbon emissions be counted as additional to government-mandated caps.

A series of letters have been sent to the Prime minister, Climate Change Minister and a range of senior ministers with a relevant role in the CPRS legislation, highlighting the issue and bringing their attention to a Joint Statement and Briefing Paper put together by the coalition of organisations (see below). In addition, a concerted media campaign will be launched in the lead up to the legislation being debated in Federal Parliament.

For a full understanding of the issue and an outline of a proposed solution, download the Briefing Paper.

And to understand the position of the coalition of community groups, read the Joint Statement