Australia’s carbon tax abolition draws international criticism

Australia’s repeal of the carbon price has provoked a largely negative reaction overseas, with former US vice president Al Gore calling it a “disappointing step”.

Gore said Thursday’s abolition of the mechanism means that “Australia is falling behind other major industrialised nations in the growing global effort to reduce carbon emissions and ensure a clean and prosperous future”.

“[It is] a disappointing step for a country that continues to experience the worsening consequences of the climate crisis.”

Gore, who appeared alongside Clive Palmer in a bizarre press conference in June to iterate the Palmer United party’s position on the carbon price, said be was encouraged by the support for the Renewable Energy Target, the Clean Energy Finance Corporation, the Australian Renewable Energy Agency and the Climate Change Authority.

“These programs are examples of Australia’s long and continued excellence in combating the climate crisis, and must continue,” Gore said. He added that he was “hopeful” that Australia would adopt an emissions trading scheme (ETS), as advanced by Labor and, in a radically watered down form, by Palmer.

Connie Hedegaard, the European Union’s climate commissioner, also voiced disappointment at the carbon price repeal.

“The European Union regrets the repeal of Australia's carbon pricing mechanism just as new carbon pricing initiatives are emerging all around the world,” she said.

“The EU is convinced that pricing carbon is not only the most cost-effective way to reduce emissions, but also the tool to make the economic paradigm shift the world needs.

“This is why the EU will continue to work towards global carbon pricing with all international partners.”

The European Union has had an emissions trading scheme in place since 2005. The scheme, which covers around 45% of total greenhouse emissions from the 28 EU countries, was due to be linked to Australia’s own emissions trading scheme, but this will now not happen.

The UK, which is part of the EU ETS, has declined to officially criticise Australia over the abolition, although a senior UK Conservative recently condemned Tony Abbott over his “reckless” approach to climate change.

However, a spokeswoman for Ed Davey, the UK’s climate change minister, told Guardian Australia that Britain wanted to work with countries to “encourage ambitious action” on climate change, preferably via carbon pricing.

“The UK supports the development of carbon pricing around the world as the most cost-effective way to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and incentivising the technologies required for the transition to a low carbon economy,” she said.

The repeal of the carbon price means that Australia now has no primary mechanism designed to lower carbon emissions.

The government has insisted it is confident that it will be able to implement its voluntary Direct Action scheme, which will hand around $2.5bn to businesses for emissions-lowering projects.

However, PUP, Labor and the Greens have all voiced their opposition to Direct Action, meaning it appears unlikely to pass the Senate.

Several independent analyses have found that Direct Action would not meet the government’s target of a 5% reduction in emissions by 2020, on 2000 levels, without major new investment. The government claims it will meet this goal but has not undertaken any modelling to support this assertion.