Abstract
In the absence of a global agreement to reduce emissions, Australia has adopted a carbon tax unilaterally to curb its own emissions. During the debate prior to passing the carbon tax legislation, there were concerns about the challenge that Australia’s emissions intensive and trade exposed (EITE) industries may face in terms of decreasing international competitiveness due to the unilateral nature of the tax and hence the potential for carbon leakage. In order to address these concerns, this paper explores possible border adjustment measures (BAMs) to complement the domestic carbon regulation in Australia using the multi-sector computable general equilibrium (CGE) approach. We consider four border adjustments: border adjustments on imports based on domestic emissions; border adjustments on exports via a rebate for exports; a domestic production rebate; and full border adjustment on both exports and imports. We compare the numerical simulation results of these scenarios with a no border adjustments scenario from the standpoint of welfare, international competitiveness, and carbon leakage. The key finding is that BAMs have a very small impact on the overall economy and on EITE sectors. In other words, the different BAMs are unlikely to change the outcomes of carbon pricing policy in Australia in any significant way. This finding is consistent with studies for EU, US, Canada and other countries. We conclude with the consideration of whether the border adjustments are warranted in the Australian case
Author Information
Mahinda Siriwardana, University of New England, Australia
Paper Information
Conference: ACSEE2013
Stream: Sustainability
This paper is part of the ACSEE2013 Conference Proceedings (View)
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To cite this article:
Siriwardana M. (2013) Border Adjustments under Unilateral Carbon Pricing: The Case of Australian Carbon Tax ISSN: 2186-2311 – The Asian Conference on Sustainability, Energy and the Environment 2013 – Official Conference Proceedings https://doi.org/10.22492/2186-2311.20130520
To link to this article: https://doi.org/10.22492/2186-2311.20130520
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