The Australian Government introduced a Carbon Tax in 2012 to mitigate greenhouse gas emissions and to tackle the serious environmental problem of climate change. The Coalition Government introduced a Direct Action Plan to replace the Carbon Tax and to achieve the same goal of greenhouse gas mitigation.

Details of the task:

Briefly discuss the main motivation of implementing these policies. Compare and contrast these two policies and evaluate the incentives for both policies in reducing emissions. Which policy is ‘best’? Why? Explain an alternative policy to the Carbon Tax and Direct Action Plan the government could employ to reduce emissions?

The project should at minimum:

– Discuss the rationale and the theoretical underpinnings of a Carbon Tax and compare it with the Direct Action Plan
– Identify what you believe is the ‘best’ policy alternative and why.
– Explain an alternative policy to the Carbon Tax and Direct Action Plan

Formatting the Final Project

The final document should be submitted as a double-spaced Microsoft Word document with:

a title page indicating the title of the project, your name and student ID number
an introduction and conclusion (even if they are brief)
use the Harvard referencing style for both in-text referencing and citing and in the end of the document reference list.
You are encouraged to embed online media (hyperlinks to specific websites, videos and podcasts) in order to comply with the word limit restriction. It makes sense to provide more analysis and present descriptive contents using external web links or hypertexts. However, this should be to support your own analysis. Your teacher should be able to assess your knowledge and skills to complete this task via your own ability to meet the subject intended learning outcomes:

Evaluate the empirical evidence relating to climate change and its adverse impacts on natural and built environments in Australia.
Apply economic principles relating to climate change and evaluate key mitigation and adaptation policies in both developed and developing countries.
Discuss core strategic issues relating to the international response to climate change mitigation.
Assess and propose appropriate adaptation and business strategies in response to climate change and present them in a report.