Australia’s Low Pollution Future – The Economics Of Climate Change Mitigation

On 30 October 2008, the Rudd Government released the report by Treasury entitled 'Australia's Low Pollution Future: The Economics of Climate Change Mitigation' (Report).

The purpose of the Report was to analyse and model the medium to long term economic impacts of policies to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, in particular the Carbon Pollution Reduction Scheme (CPRS). The modelling did not address the economic impacts of climate change itself or assess the benefits of reducing climate change risks through mitigation.

Unsurprisingly, the Report has received a great deal of attention and criticism; in particular, in relation to its reliance on carbon capture and storage as a viable technology and because of the fact that it did not take in account the current global financial crisis (or indeed any short term economic fluctuations).