This report argues that when it comes to reducing the Renewable Energy Target, the winners will be the big power companies while the losers would be households. Executive summary The Renewable Energy Target (RET) is a policy designed—with bipartisan backing—to reduce carbon pollution from the electricty sector and build Australia’s renewable energy industry. Both these...

Overview: All major political parties in Australia recognise that the nation needs strong and effective climate change policies to reduce emissions. There is also bipartisan support for the globally agreed goal to limit global temperature increases to less than 2oC above pre-industrial levels. For Australia to play its fair part in global action, our emissions...

Synopsis: Are Australians climate dinosaurs? Climate of the Nation 2014, benchmarking Australian attitudes to climate change, finds that political leaders risk being stuck in the past as public attitudes on climate change and its solutions are on the rebound. In mid-2014, more Australians think that climate change is occurring and are concerned about impacts, present...

This policy brief presents a number of scenarios to illustrate the impact on the budget from the Emissions Reduction Fund and removing the carbon price. Summary The Government proposes to remove the current legislated carbon price and replace it with its taxpayer-funded Emissions Reduction Fund (ERF). Over the four years of forward estimates, this is...

Summary : Carbon dioxide is being released into the atmosphere nearly twice as fast as it is removed by Earth's carbon sinks, like forests and oceans. Think of it as a bath tub overflowing. To get atmospheric carbon levels back to manageable levels we not only need to turn off the tap by reducing emissions...