Pricing Carbon in Australia

Want a basic understanding of the Government’s plans to price carbon pollution in Australia – the clean energy future bills?

A key element of the package, and of major relevance to agriculture is the Carbon Farming Initiative

This section gives an outline of how carbon pollution will be priced, and the opportunities and challenges associated with the carbon farming initiative. 

Key points:

- The legislation has now been passed and comes into effect in July 2012

- The initial price is $23/tonne of CO2

- On-farm emissions are excluded from the carbon tax but input prices will rise

- Australia’s stated target is to reduce emissions by 5% by 2020

- Participation in the carbon farming initiative is voluntary and dairy industry analysis suggests dairy farmers should be very cautious about signing up to any CFI schemes