"Coal-Fired Australia, Buffeted by Climate Change, Enacts Carbon Tax"

Photograph from Macarthur Coal/Reuters

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Written By:

Josie Garthwaite

National Geographic News

Published October 5, 2012

Australia has widely been known for its massive coal deposits , cheap fossil fuel delivery, and reliable electricity through both extreme heat and torrential storms. However, as most would say for them, "it's time to face the music". Drought, rampant wildfire in the outback, and the degradation of the Great Barrier Reef have affected the country's view on its energy usage and endowment. If trends were to continue, Australia would be one of the places on Earth most vulnerable to climate change as well as one of the nations with the world's highest per capita carbon emissions.

This past week the government issued its first ever carbon emissions permits, "a milestone in implementation of a new climate and energy law that is expected to give Australia the world's most comprehensive carbon cap-and-trade system by 2015" (Garthwaite). Many measures have been made for change which include carbon tax and permits such as the "Clean Energy Future Package", establishing a goal of reducing national emissions to 5 percent below 2000 levels by 2020, and 80 percent below 2000 levels by 2050.

However, plans did not go without controversy as about two-thirds of Australians have shown concern that household expenses and living costs would rise and be worse off in a low-carbon economy. Luckily, support was introduced when details were fully explained and support for action on climate change increased during the years-long drought that held the continent, punctuated by a record-breaking heat wave in the summer of 2009.

I had never looked further into Australia as it was a place practically on the other side of the globe, but to know that what is occurring may affect the planet should bring concern to not just the people of that country, but to intelligent human beings around the world. The United States may learn a thing or two if its government were to allow implementing some ideas of reducing carbon emissions.

- Andrew