CANBERRA, Australia, Oct. 19 (UPI) -- Australia lags far behind its main global competitors in setting a carbon price, a new study shows.
The report, by U.K.-based Vivid Economics and commissioned by the Climate Institute, calculated the implicit carbon price in dollars per ton of carbon pollution by studying the electricity sector in the United Kingdom, China, the United States, Japan, Australia and South Korea.
The United Kingdom ranked the highest, with an overall price of about $29 a ton of carbon, followed by China at approximately $14 a ton. Behind China came the United States, Japan and Australia, with South Korea ranking last.
Australia's current policies, which include a goal of sourcing 20 percent of power from renewable energy by 2020, imply a carbon price of $1.70 a ton for electricity producers, the study found.
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Australia, the world's biggest exporter of coal, has the highest per capita of carbon emissions among developed nations.
Australian Prime Minister Julia Gillard last month announced the formation of an independent climate change committee charged with identifying the best way to price carbon.
Australia's emissions trading scheme, defeated in Parliament last year, called for a fixed carbon price for the first year of $10 a ton. A model suggested by the Greens in January proposed an interim carbon tax starting at $23 a ton.
"A direct and broad-based price tag on pollution is required if Australia is to meet its targets at lowest short- and long-term cost," said Erwin Jackson, deputy chief executive officer of The Climate Institute in a news release.
"However, it is also critical to ensure that our international competitiveness is not lost to other countries gaining early mover advantages in clean energy investment and reducing their economies' dependence on pollution."
But Peter Anderson, chief of the Australian Chamber of Commerce and Industry, says putting a priced on carbon would put Australian industry at a competitive disadvantage, The Sydney Morning Herald reports.
Australian Climate Change Minister Gregg Combet maintains large companies in Australia are demanding action on climate change, citing a survey showing that most companies believed action on carbon emissions would provide more business opportunities than risks, the Australian Broadcasting Corporation reports.
The Climate Institute report, which also tracked investment in clean energy, found that in 2009 clean energy investment in China reached $35 billion compared with $18 billion in the United States and less than $1 billion in Australia.
