Because of the urgency to reduce green house gases which need to be rapidly brought down to at least 350 ppm carbon dioxide as a precaution against runaway global warming we would support a carbon tax. If we continue to be lulled into inaction because we have legislated for ETS, and if our sense of urgency is gone, it will lead to Climate Rupture brought on by full out exploitation of low EROI (Energy Returned over Invested) lignite and tar sands.

In association with our proposed carbon tariff (on goods imported from countries without adequate policies in place), this would be a powerful disincentive for using or extracting fossil fuels.

So our policy is up-stream constraint. Cap at the wellhead.  Stop at the mine gate. This is the only real way to control the emissions.

We want to change the signal. Revenues would be kept in the country to build the new low-energy infrastructure.

We would put up the petrol tax, institute a coal tax at the mine gate (Solid Energy would have to pay it before it goes onto the market) and a gas tax. This would be a regulatory move. Then, downstream the economy would sort out what the important uses of the diminishing supply fuel with increasing cost would be.

Cap and trade, cap and share ­– are all down-stream, tail pipe approaches and will do nothing to reduce carbon emissions.