Mathias Cormann (WA, Liberal Party, Shadow Assistant Treasurer) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

asked the Minister representing the Treasurer, upon notice, on 18 August 2011:

With reference to the Treasury Carbon Tax modelling, Strong growth, low pollution: Modelling a carbon price:

Given that in the medium global action scenario in the Treasury modelling, Treasury assumes that countries in the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries [OPEC] enter co-ordinated global action on carbon pricing from 2021:

(1) What probability does Treasury attach to the idea that countries like Iran, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Venezuela, Syria and Yemen will have operational and internationally-linked emission trading schemes (ETSs) within 10 years.

(2) If they are not expected to have internationally-linked ETSs by this time, what does it mean to say that they will join co-ordinated global action on carbon pricing by 2021.

Penny Wong (SA, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Finance and Deregulation) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The Treasurer has provided the following answer to the honourable senator's question:

The Treasury modelling contained in the Strong growth, low pollution (SGLP) report assumes that OPEC1 as a group of countries responds to a mitigation target from 2021. It assumes that OPEC is able to buy or sell abatement from or to either firms or governments outside OPEC to achieve its target. The modelling does not assume OPEC will have an operational emission trading schemes (ETS) in 2021. Members of OPEC currently undertake Clean Development Mechanism projects which allow countries to source abatement within the OPEC region.

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1 Note that the “OPEC” region in the GTEM model used for the SGLP report does not align exactly with current membership of OPEC. The GTEM OPEC region includes: Bahrain, Iran, Iraq, Israel, Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Palestinian Territories, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Syria, United Arab Emirates, Venezuela, and Yemen.