THE Productivity Commission will publish a report today showing that most of Australia's major trading partners are taking action to tackle climate change but which will provide little guidance on the design of a carbon price in Australia.
In recent days, senior government ministers have sought to frame the report – on carbon pricing locally and in eight trading partners – to support the case for action in Australia, The Australian Financial Review reports.
But commission chairman Gary Banks had already flagged that the limited time available to complete the report and the multitude of different emissions reductions policies around the world made comparisons difficult. He said the report would show the cost-effectiveness of different measures within countries.
"Once you move away from an economy-wide 'pricing' mechanism to a multitude of fragmented schemes that target different products and emissions sources, comparable measurement becomes highly problematic," he said.
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