Twenty years ago, on this day, September 1, 1998, carbon trading seemed to be coming to Australia…
SYDNEY (Dow Jones)–Sydney Futures Exchange said Tuesday it has formally established the Australian Emissions Trading Forum to provide opportunities for members to exchange information on greenhouse issues and encourage debate on emissions trading.
An advisory committee to the AETF, comprising representatives from a range of key industry and government agencies, has also been formed, the SFE said in a statement.
“There is growing interest in the prospect of greenhouse gas emissions trading as a means of meeting our greenhouse target, however, many potential stakeholders have found it difficult to obtain information about how the various schemes might develop,” Les Hoskings, SFE’s chief executive said.
At the U.N. climate change convention in Kyoto, Japan, in December 1997, a number of developed countries made binding targets to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Australia has committed to limit emissions to 108% of 1990 levels.
1998 Sydney Futures Exchange Sets Up Forum On Emissions Trading. September 1 Dow Jones International News
See also Fullerton- 31 August 1998 http://www.abc.net.au/pm/stories/s48208.htm
The amount of carbon dioxide in the air was roughly 366ppm. As of 2023 it is 421ppm, but check here for daily measures.
The context was that various people thought that there would be a rush towards emissions trading, once Australia had its own national scheme and had ratified the Kyoto Protocol (which it had already signed).. The foreign money would come pouring in from nations where cutting carbon was harder (e.g. Japan, which had gone seriously energy efficient after the 1973 oil shock). These nations would instead of making expensive local investments could instead buy some trees in New South Wales and say “job done.” Meanwhile the middlemen and the bankers would get seriously rich. That was the idea, that was the cunning plan.
What I think we can learn from this is that smart people with an eye to the main chance are always coming up with cunning plans. Pity that these didn’t help with the decarbonization effort. Oh well
What happened next
The Sydney Trading Futures thing shut down in 2000 just before the Minchin/Hill Cabinet showdown…
It get off the ground basically emissions trading didn’t either in Australia and the emissions kept climbing and climbing at least globally (t’s all a bit dodgy depending on how you do your accounting)
What do you think? Does this pass the ‘so what?’ threshold? Have I got facts wrong? Interpretation wrong? Please do comment on this post, unless you are a denialist, obvs.