Environmental Management: Sustainable Development

Sustainability development is defined as the using, protecting and strengthening of environment resources in an ecological way to maintain and ensure the safety of these services for the future generations. The need for a sustainable and better future emerged in the late 20^th century. Like any other country who made it to the list of developed nations in the world, the Australian economy was highly dependent on it primary resources for industrial development. By 1990 the Commonwealth government of Australia created and gave a definition to the country`s personal ESD (ecological sustainable development). Surrounded by three oceans, Australia has a responsibility towards its marine environment. Also, the extensive use of land for modernization by the growing population has added to several environmental issues. As per Hiscock (2014), the betterment of the nation, economist favored a method of levying prices on those who emit CO2 called a carbon price. The idea of carbon tax primarily formed part of the future plan for clean energy and aimed to decrease levels of greenhouses gasses in the country. Implementation of this plan by the government targeted to promote the use of sustainable energy techniques by industries. As commented by Jotzo (2012), an efficient use of Carbon pricing plays a significant role in fulfilling Australia`s new commitments and besides can prove to be beneficial regarding revenue generation.

The research analysis scrutinizes Australia`s current situation and the role of carbon pricing in establishing a better future. An update and reflection to the use of this strategy by the government have also been included. Furthermore, the project takes into consideration a relationship between systematic changes and sustainable development.   

According to Griggs et al. (2013), Australia lays down a set of goals and objectives to meet the need of a better present and worthwhile future. The nations self-developed SDGs (sustainable development goals) not only aims for the country`s prosperity but also encourage actions for a global sustainable development. However, being the world`s highest carbon emitter per person Australia faces a significant challenge of emission reduction. The practice of charging businesses for a high excretion of carbon waste in the environment has lead to an indicative downfall in the greenhouses gasses. According to Bailey et al. (2012), carbon tax policies in Australia fundamentally aimed to reduce pollution by 5% below 2000 at the end of 2020 and more than 80% below 2000 level by 2050. The Australian government fixed the price of one-tonne carbon emission at $23 for the year 2013-14 which increased to $24.15 for the financial year 2013-14. Primarily the strategy attended to the industrial segment whose direct excretion exceeded a limit and also to businesses for which it was mandatory to pay a price on emissions through the fuel tax rule or the greenhouse gas schemes. With an introduction of carbon pricing, the government of the nation set up separate bodies to look after the payment of such taxes. By the end of the year 2014, the tax liabilities started to function and show results in favor of Australia. As reported by Foxon et al. (2013), more than 75000 business companies of the country that included the mining, electricity, aviation and other sectors were liable to pay these charges.

Relating to IMF reports, carbon pricing mechanism is the heart of an integrated strategy response of the Australian government that was designed through a comprehensive policy design course (Environment.gov.au. 2016). One of the main advantages of this taxing system is its ability to connect to several other marketing channels. For better functioning, the country puts a spotlight on linking its carbon tax policies to the international standards as well. To meet a state of the low-carbon economy, it is important for Australia to study the dual-nature of imposing carbon liabilities on its economy (Icapcarbonaction.com. 2016). It is the effect of these policies that enable industries to search a more ethical production technique. The burden of these taxes on the modernized country generates better revenue for the government and also makes the people aware of the social situation of the country. As stated by Fahimnia et al. (2013), despite healing and minimizing CO2 levels in the environment the practice of carbon pricing has lead to a downfall in the economy. The people of Australia have to pay a cost literally for a sustainable future. Increase in prices of goods and services due to an extra charge on carbon excretion is finally borne by the consumers (Carbontax.net.au. 2016).

The modern generation tends to emphasize their demands over other species. To meet their needs the people are substantially dependent on nature and hence it is their responsibility to take care of the resources. While reviewing sustainability objectives, Australia is confronted with the wicked problem and its conjunction of systematical dynamics for better planning and insight of the real world. The government`s role in being able to study and criticize from a broad angle is necessary for understanding complexities and problems that arise along with the topic of sustainability. By exercising system thinking and focusing on growing patterns rather than singular occurrences the population of the country gain knowledge about integrated components in the urban environment. It is equally important to understand the ethical relationship between the elements of the environment to carry out decisions for the coming generation. System thinking often affects a sole component and in turn, leads to an unwanted and unexpected impact on another part creating a misbalance in the ecological system. The primary purpose of a system perspective is solving problems and gain valid information in order to understand the complex real world balance. Concerning a sustainable future and survival of the human race in Australia, the people are substantially dependent on the process of system thinking. Though it ‘s hard to develop more efficient strategies and drive the community towards achieving a common goal the system thinking mechanism identifies these issues as an overall system problem rather than reacting to individual parts alone.

Australia greatly depends on the use of technology and globalization factors for economic development. The extensive consumption of resources acts as a hurdle in the advancement of the nation. An application of the systematic method and viewing its implication from a wider angle is what system thinking is all about. The government of the country along with performing by itself work in collaboration with social communities and international ties seek to understand and cultivate on the idea of sustainable development. With a concern of imposing carbon taxes in a systematic manner, the decision-makers need to divide the consumer segment based on their buying capacity and income levels (Healey 2015). Carbon liabilities on industries gradually add up to be a negative externality factor for the industrial sector of the country. Also, government reports show a substantial rise in product prices causes a situation of market failure. The relationship between elements that are dependent on each other forms a complexity in the system. Further, exploring an action plan based on system thinking rule it is regarded as a slow and non-practicable act that lacks efficiency in real-world issues.

In order to reduce greenhouse gasses in the environment and focus on a safe livelihood for the coming generation, Australia looks at the carbon pricing policy as the most efficient method. The recent introduction of emission trading scheme has lead to a nowhere situation for the government of the country (Theaustralian.com.au. 2015). Also, the intervention of politics and corruption has slowed down the smooth functioning of the nation. A vast range of scaremongering has also caused the country to abolish a carbon tax. Though impose such liability would result in a rise in gas and electricity prices, it would also affect the GST of the country. In addition to a source for revenue generation, the tax reform policies put a spotlight on equality problems. The regressive nature of carbon pricing is to the fault in the functioning of the government. Most unfortunately, the abolition of the tax policy of carbon has gained a massive amount of negative review from almost every horizon of the world. Even such a sudden step has been pointed out as “disappointing step” by the former vice president of the US Al Gore. Along with Mr. Gore, the climate commissioner of the European Union has voiced same disappointment for passing the appeal for repealing Carbon tax legislation on 17^th July 2014. The decision left Australia with no proper legal act to minimize emission of greenhouse gas. It is shocking that how new senators from the cross bench have dominated the Australian government finally to accept the repealed appeal regarding carbon tax (Independentaustralia.net. 2016). It is important to keep in mind the fact demise of two prime ministers has probably the instigated the process of abolishing the carbon tax policy in Australia. Unfortunately, rebelling voices of the labor party of Australia has submerged under the hypocritical attitude of Ian Macdonald who performs the role of government backbencher.

As a dire consequence, 350 businesses will no more have an obligation to pay tax or make a balance in the business operation to control greenhouse gas emission. In the words of Hobbs and Saunders (2012), big head production companies and electricity generators which have been accused of being the pioneer of enhancing the volume of Carbon gas emission are supposed to have the potential benefit from this abolition. However, according to the Australian government, the scheme of Carbon pricing proved to have certain pitfalls though the rate of national emission of the greenhouse gasses has fallen by near about 0.8% (Taylor 2014). Most importantly, the systems of energy reporting and national greenhouse have the ability to avoid European problems. The good news in this context is that rate of the electricity emission from the east coast market has fallen by almost 11% though there are ambiguous and unsatisfactory results from the other parts of the domain.

Consumer commission and council of the Australian competition are mainly accountable for enforcing the price reduction policies, and it is astonishing that they are quite reluctant about the fact that electricity bill and gas bill have raised since the abolition of Carbon price tax. However, these responsible entities have argued and supported their back by pointing to the fact that rise in the electricity bill is less by 9% than the estimated rate, and the gas bill has enhanced by 7% less than the expected rate (Meng Siriwardana and McNeill 2013).

The carbon tax was introduced in Act of Clean Energy in 2011. The government also launched funds for Emission Reduction in December 2014. The plan required emitting carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gasses to over 25,000 tonnes. This was a revolutionary idea, as the emission of greenhouse gasses in Australia declined to over 5%. It was investigated that there was a reduction of 7% after the induction of carbon tax. Carbon tax led to an increase of greenhouse gasses from the electricity companies increased by 4%, and 38% in 2008.

The Earth is on the verge of the main pollution adversities, with the rise in global temperature and the sudden climate shifts, there is a crucial need for sustainable development. Implementing carbon tax and vehicular norms are just a few measures to tackle this global apocalypse. Carbon dioxide emissions cause ocean acidification, which kills marine organism. Environmental issues have now become paramount important as the sustainability of the world as we know it, is in question. Practices like Recycling, Reusing, Waste treatment, mitigation, prevention, and composition are few ways. Pollution control devices like Dust collection, scrubbers, sewage treatment, industrial waste management and Phytoremediation are only a few measures. There need to be implementation and government initiatives for control of pollution, high polluting vehicles should be banned. Environmental Laws should be implemented after thorough assessment of the environmental impacts. Briefly, the most important target for any government is to ensure a sustainable environmental development. 

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