This green paper outlines the Australian Government’s approach to the design of a national emissions trading scheme – Australia’s Carbon Pollution Reduction Scheme. The paper identifies the key design decisions that are required, discusses alternative approaches to dealing with the key questions to be resolved, and indicates preferences among options.

In preparing the green paper, the government has drawn on work undertaken by the former government’s Task Group on Emissions Trading (TGET), the states and territories’ National Emissions Trading Taskforce (NETT) and the Garnaut Climate Change Review. Lessons learned from the establishment of the European Union Emissions Trading Scheme and other schemes have helped shape the approaches proposed in this green paper. Importantly, the development of options has been heavily influenced by extensive consultations with industry, community groups and other stakeholders over the past year.