As the federal election draws closer, considerable attention is being paid to the ALP’s proposed Safeguard Mechanism amendment, which proposes to tighten emissions limits for high emitting industrial facilities via the establishment of a ‘baseline and credit’ trading scheme.
The ALP’s policy would cover around one-third of national emissions (in parallel to a specific framework to the electricity sector), extending to facilities emitting over 25,000t/CO2e per annum – encompassing the Metals & Mining, Other Materials (Chemicals, Cement, Paper, etc), Oil & Gas, Transport and Waste sectors – re-establishing a carbon price for these industries.
For these companies, it can be challenging to monitor the Australian carbon spot price, with the secondary market for Australian Carbon Credit Units (ACCUs) conducted via private OTC transactions, while the weighted average price at ERF auctions is of little help as a price signal for spot market contracting.
So what is the current Australian carbon spot price?
In this article we take a tour of local and international carbon price dynamics, and key considerations ahead as the federal election campaign draws to a close.
