The Carbon Market Institute (CMI) conducts an annual survey of the attitudes in Australian business and industry on international and domestic climate policy, carbon markets and pricing and corporate climate risk, disclosure and strategy. This survey has been conducted since 2014, and is in its seventh year, allowing the CMI to track trends.

Several new questions have been added in 2021 to reflect changes in climate policy domestically and globally. New questions cover the International Energy Agency (IEA) Net-Zero 2050 Report milestones, global capital flows and the prioritisation of countries and companies with decarbonisation policies and actions, corporate emissions reduction targets, co-benefit frameworks, and domestic voluntary carbon markets. We also ask about barriers to investment, not just drivers.

The starkest changes in data, when comparing year-on-year results, relate to future predictions of a higher 2030 carbon price, an increase in the number of companies factoring in a carbon price, and growing recognition in organisations at board and executive management levels of the material financial and strategic risks posed by climate change. Our survey reveals that policy or regulatory uncertainty is the primary barrier listed to investment.

The survey was conducted electronically, over a three-week period across August and September 2021. It was sent to a wide database of senior executives and employees working for businesses with a large emissions profile, to investors, carbon project developers, carbon market experts and professional service providers.