Courtesy of the emissions trading scheme (ETS), households can expect to pay a couple of hundred dollars extra a year in fuel and electricity costs.
You might think that doesn't sound too bad – a bargain even – if it delivers a sizable dent in greenhouse gas emissions. That's unlikely to happen.
The ETS is our belated attempt to meet obligations under the Kyoto Protocol. We've signed up to reduce greenhouse gas emissions to 1990 levels by 2012. Gross emissions are now sitting 22 percent above 1990 levels and the best estimates are the ETS will knock off a mere 1 percent by 2012.
With its extra costs for consumers, few benefits and labyrinthine rules, it’s hard to find much to like about this scheme.
Highlights of this report
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