Australian businesses will be forced to spend more than $25 billion on international carbon credits to meet Labor's 45 per cent emissions reduction targets by 2030, jeopardising one of Bill Shorten's fundamental election pillars, which he declared would have no cost to the economy.
The Conservative Party will oppose any attempts by Labor to implement their plan if elected, so you need to vote "1" Australian Conservatives in the Senate. We are standing Senate candidates in every Australian state.
The Australian reports, threatening a repeat of their 2010 scuttling of Kevin Rudd's emissions trading scheme, the Greens yesterday warned they could block Labor's use of international carbon permits in the Senate over concerns that the policy was overly reliant on international permits to meet the 1.3 billion tonnes of carbon abatement in the next 10 years.
The Labor leader yesterday came under fire after being unable to explain what the cost of the policy would be, given carbon permits are set to play a key role in meeting the target.
Experts believe the price of international carbon offsets could hit $62 a tonne over the decade but, allowing for an average of $50 a tonne, the hit on businesses would be about $25 billion to meet Labor's target.
This is based on an assumption that more than 500 million tonnes of abatement would have to come through either the purchase of international carbon credits or further land-clearing controls and reforestation, which would prove politically explosive in the bush.
