Emissions Reduction Fund is almost empty. It shouldn’t be refilled

Australia’s flagship climate policy, the Emissions Reduction Fund (ERF), has come in for fresh questions over whether the emissions allowances offered to big businesses will wipe out much of the progress made elsewhere.

The Emissions Reduction Fund is not capturing
enough emissions from the most polluting industries.

This voluntary scheme – the central plank of Australia’s efforts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 26-28% below 2005 levels by 2030 – allows interested parties to reduce pollution in exchange for a proportion of the A$2.55 billion fund.

So far, through successive rounds of “reverse auctions”, the scheme has secured 191.7 million tonnes of emission reductions, at a price tag of A$2.28 billion.

Read the piece on The Conversation by a Senior Lecturer in Economics from The University of Queensland, Ian A. MacKenzie -  “Emissions Reduction Fund is almost empty. It shouldn’t be refilled.”