...
Reducing emissions will create 3.7 million jobs in Australia
on Wednesday, October 6, 2010
The Australian Conservation Foundation and ACTU have released a report calledCreating Jobs - Cutting Pollution that concludes that Australia can create 3.7million jobs across Australia by taking strong action now to reduce carbon emissions.The report calls for a price on carbon, investment in renewable energy, in public transport and more efficient vehicle fleets, and a national energy efficiency strategy for both commercial and residential buildings.Last month Melbourne-based research organisation Beyond Zero Emissionspublished a study showing Australia could, if we chose, make the switch to 100 per cent renewable energy by 2020 using existing solar, wind and biofuel technology.These a just the latest in a flurry...
Why a carbon tax will put money in your wallet
on Wednesday, October 6, 2010
Now a report by the Australia Institute claims a carbon tax would leave a typical Australian family $1000 better off.The report says, if the Government can resist lobbying for exemption and concessions from big polluters (and that's a big if), then a carbon tax of $25/tonne on energy generators would raise $13 billion. That's enough to pay a carbon dividend of $2100 to a family of four. Meanwhile, Treasury calculates the tax would increase electricity and other prices by $18.50 for the average family - under $1000 a year.Of course, in real life this will depend on how much energy you use.But that's the whole point of a carbon price; to encourage us to be more energy efficient, to drive less and to switch to less...
