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Paris UN climate conference 2015: Australian government suddenly backs carbon markets

By Tom Arup
The Sydney Morning Herald
December 11, 2015

After a brutal six-year war on carbon markets, is this the Coalition softening its position?

Eyebrows were raised after the Turnbull government shifted its stance overnight when Foreign Affairs Minister Julie Bishop signed up to a New Zealand-led declaration at the Paris climate summit backing the use of international carbon markets in tackling climate change.

It could pave the way for it to start using international carbon permits to help meet Australia’s emissions targets – and perhaps alter its direct action climate scheme. Ms Bishop insisted on Wednesday that any domestic policy changes would not be considered until a review in 2017.

Lewis Tyndall, from the land carbon company GreenCollar, told an Australian event on the sidelines of the Paris conference that Environment Minister Greg Hunt had described parts of the direct action scheme as “baseline and credit system” at a private event in the French capital last Friday.

Read the full article here.

 – this article waoriginally published on the Sydney Morning Herald website, 11 December 2015 

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