The Australian government will begin imposing a tax on carbon emissions in mid-2012. But large giveaways to industry mean Australia’s scheme doesn’t go nearly far enough in reducing the nation’s CO2 emissions or providing economic stimulus.

Another global climate conference has come and (more…)

Climate talks began in Durban, South Africa on Monday amid downplayed expectations for any meaningful agreements on cutting greenhouse gas emissions or progress on finding a successor to the Kyoto Protocol.

With the Kyoto Protocol’s mandatory carbon targets (more…)

A majority of Americans across the political spectrum support policies that reduce carbon emissions, including a revenue-neutral carbon tax, according to a new survey by the Yale Project on Climate Change Communication.

In a survey conducted between Oct. 20 and Nov. 6, (more…)

Australia has just enacted a carbon tax law that it will implement mid-2012. Is a carbon tax a better policy than a cap and trade policy? Better minds than mine disagree over the answer to that question and the primary reason for disagreement is that they are both susceptible to misuse when in place even (more…)

Parliament OKs plan to cut carbon to 5 percent below 2000 levels by 2020

Under a controversial plan passed today in the Australian parliament, Australia’s 500 biggest greenhouse gas emitters will pay $23* for every ton of carbon they emit. The carbon pricing scheme, which will go into effect next July after the (more…)

America is much better in technology than governance. That’s the sentence that leapt out at me and remained prominent throughout my reading of economist Robert Repetto’s book America’s Climate Problem: The Way Forward. I sought the book for review because, although its focus is on the US, what happens there will crucially affect the rest of us, (more…)

The debt deal reached by the White House and Congress will likely trigger deep spending cuts for many energy and environmental programs for years to come, a shift many fear could have long-term repercussions on public health and the emergence of new energy technologies. (more…)

In the summer of 2009, U.S. and Australian climate politics had a similar look and feel. The lower houses of legislature in each country had passed carbon trading schemes and were waiting on their respective senates to act. While the U.S. House’s wide-ranging cap-and-trade bill didn’t stand much of a chance in (more…)

The Australian government has unveiled a proposal to tax its heaviest carbon dioxide emitters as of July 2012, a plan that would make Australia the first nation to put a price on carbon.

The plan, which is expected to pass both houses of parliament before the end of the year, would require (more…)

The results of political compromise — maybe by definition — are seldom satisfactory to anyone. But hasn’t this whole process recently gotten worse than ever before? The ultimate version of the healthcare reform that the Obama administration put through was the product of a hammer and tongs fight from the (more…)