California And Australia Bolster Carbon Trading Ties

Memorandum of understanding comes weeks after Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd pledged to accelerate introduction of emissions trading scheme By Jessica Shankleman 31 Jul 2013 California and Australia have agreed to step up efforts to work together to link their respective carbon markets, just weeks after Australia’s prime minister announced he would accelerate plans to replace the country’s carbon tax with an emissions trading scheme. California’s Air Resources Board and Australia’s Clean Energy Regulator yesterday signed a memorandum of understanding that aims to establish a working relationship for the two organisations to co-operate on efforts to curb greenhouse gas emissions . The agreement builds on existing work over the last year, which has seen the two organisations share some of the practical experiences gained introducing a new carbon market. The new framework focuses on measures to increase investment in clean energy generation and improve market integrity, as well deepening collaboration between the two agencies. For example, it will allow the organisations to share information on designing and running carbon pricing programmes and discuss how they could link their markets in future . Mary Nichols, chairwoman of CARB, said the agreement would continue California and Australia’s “productive relationship” as both jurisdictions seek to expand their carbon markets. “It is another step forward in California’s efforts to establish relationships with other programs to continue sharing information and best practices to fight the global danger of climate change,” she said. The agreement comes just weeks after Prime Minister Kevin Rudd said Australia would replace its carbon tax with an emissions trading scheme (ETS) a year earlier than planned if his Labor party were to win this year’s election. Rudd wants the fixed price on carbon to end on 30 June 2014, rather than 2015, with a floating market linked to the European Union’s ETS opening the following day. Taylor Scott International