Abbott destroys carbon symbol but emissions issue remains
The carbon price has become the ultimate political symbol. But has this helped or harmed the cause for those who support it?
For many progressives this symbol was so potent that they ran a “say yes” campaign for it even before they knew what it would entail.
Regardless of the emission reduction targets or the generosity of the compensation package enshrined in the final legislation, supporters of the symbol of carbon pricing were just happy to see their team win the day.
But what if the carbon price was nothing more than an economic instrument with some capacity to help reduce greenhouse gas emissions?
Related documents
Between the Lines Newsletter
The biggest stories and the best analysis from the team at the Australia Institute, delivered to your inbox every fortnight.
You might also like
Climate target malpractice. Cooking the books and cooking the planet.
As the Albanese government prepares to announce Australia’s 2035 climate target, pressure is mounting to show greater ambition.
How the government is setting everyone up to fail on green claims
If a private company ran a scheme that misled consumers, inflated investor confidence, and exposed its clients to legal risk, we would expect the government to shut it down.
Expensive, publicly-funded Carbon Capture & Storage is barely visible in new emissions data
Buried deep in Australia new emissions data release is this nugget, in the ‘revisions’ section: “Fugitive sector emissions decreased 2.2% over the year to March 2025, mainly driven by reductions in natural gas venting emissions from new carbon capture and storage activities and a decline in production across both surface and underground coal mining. Estimates


