The Carbon Pollution Reduction Scheme (CPRS) is not the most efficient way to reduce carbon emissions, says Senior Lecturer in Finance Dr Les Coleman.

Dr Coleman says that while there have been extensive discussions about the pros and cons of the CPRS, alternatives to the scheme have not been adequately considered and people with specialist knowledge in the area of carbon reduction have not been adequately consulted.

“The reduction of carbon emissions is a very scientific objective, yet the process of deciding how to do this is being run by politicians and diplomats. If you really want to achieve reductions in carbon emissions, you need a technical solution. This could be achieved by consulting people with specialist knowledge like scientists, chemists and people with expertise in markets and taxation and not just diplomats.”

“The Government is setting up a false market with the CPRS and we know from the recent global financial crisis that markets don’t solve all of our problems. I would much rather see a technique used that has worked successfully in the past - a simple and direct tax system.”

“The main disadvantage of a tax system however is the name, as nobody likes to be accused of introducing another tax. Otherwise it’s a fairly direct process and could be introduced as a fairly simple extension of the current petrol excise or GST.”