Climate Dividend
How it works, in under two minutes:
“The biggest thing we do is put in place a carbon price.”
Mike Cannon-Brookes,
CEO, Atlassian, 7th Nov 2018.
One price on carbon
A rising fee on every tonne of carbon as it enters our economy, via a mine, a well or a port.
Dividends for everyone!
Money raised is returned to Aussie households directly each month.
Border adjustments
Fees charged on the carbon content of traded goods to level the playing field between countries.
Simple regulation
Regulations and fossil fuel subsidies can be wound back simplified or removed.
“We need to adequately price carbon in our economic decision making.”
Michael Chen, Executive Director,
Head of ESG at Westpac Institutional Bank
10 July 2019
Why we want a dividend
It’s efficient, fair and lets every Australian get involved. 🇦🇺
Efficiency
Putting a price on carbon is cheap and it’s hard to corrupt.
Popularity
Fee and dividend is revenue-neutral, so it doesn’t increase taxes.
Fairness
The average Aussie will be better off under the climate dividend.
Choice
Everyone can make choices about how they spend their dividend.
Policy FAQs
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Other policies like emissions trading, subsidising technology, or paying firms to reduce their pollution end up being more expensive to implement overall, and are easier to corrupt. They lead to burdensome regulation which slows down the economy.
This fact has been well established in economic theory for almost a century. In technical terms, the carbon dividend is a Pigovian tax on a negative externality.
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A: Yeah, you’re right, Aussies generally don’t like more taxes.
The climate dividend however works well because it directly shares the revenue with individuals, so most people sides of politics can find something good to say about it.
Politicians can see that it has voter appeal.
In other countries where price and dividend was correctly implemented, support has remained high.
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A: The average Aussie will be financially better off.
It’s really that simple. In the 2018 paper by Holden and Dixon, the benefits were found to be the highest for households in the lowest income bracket. (Only households with well above average income would be negatively affected by the scheme).
We like when things are fair in Australia. 🥰 🇦🇺
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A: Check out our info for policy nerds page, it has a (carbon) tonne-load more information with data and stats.
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A: Carbon taxes go straight into general government revenue.
The climate dividend however goes straight into Australian pockets, which allows families to make decisions about where they spend. This keeps our economy ticking over.
(The benefits of a clear, legislated market signal for business means we can all gently re-tool towards a post-fossil-fuel economy.)
A legislated price gives a clear market signal for investors and businesses. This certainty unlocks green innovation and technology and leads us towards a post-fossil-fuel economy.
