The Wire

The NSW Greens have warned that Australia’s oldest carbon trading scheme is on the verge of collapse. In recent weeks the NSW Greenhouse Gas Abatement Scheme, the first in Australia, has seen the price of carbon dioxide drop from $12.5 per tone to $6.25 this week. According to Greens NSW Member of Parliament, John Kaye, the scheme is failing because it was based on a benchmarking system that rewards polluters who made only modest reductions in their CO2 emissions. He says the scheme, which is on the verge of collapse, must be redesigned to ensure that only those how are truly striving to reduce greenhouse pollution are rewarded. Such a move will drive up the price of carbon and in the process force all polluters to reduce their emissions. John Kaye spoke with The Wire. The Wire contacted both the NSW Minister for Energy Ian McDonald and the NSW Minister for Climate Change, Phil Koperberg, both declined to comment.