The research being undertaken on soil carbon assessment at the Primary Industries Innovation Centre (PIIC) at the University of New England has been described as ‘critical’ to the Australian Government’s Carbon Farming Initiative by the Australian Climate Commission’s Professor Tim Flannery.

Professor Flannery made his remarks on a visit to UNE and northern inland communities in NSW in which he and fellow Commissioner, Professor Will Steffen, presented their report to community members and discussed the impacts of climate change in the region.

Professors Flannery and Steffen visited the University and its Soil Carbon Laboratory on Friday, July 1^st, to acquaint themselves with the facility and the directions of the research being done in the areas of vegetation, soil carbon and greenhouse gas emissions related to agriculture.

Professor Flannery described the work being done as ‘very impressive and interesting’ and that it would be ‘critical’ to the Carbon Farming Initiative, one of the two major programs being established for greenhouse gas abatement – the other being the carbon tax.

The Carbon Farming Initiative is a carbon offsets scheme which aims to provide new economic opportunities for farmers, forest growers and landholders to help the environment by reducing carbon pollution – and ‘the research in the Carbon Lab is central to being able to do this properly,’ Professor Flannery said.

The Climate Commissioners also briefed and exchanged ideas with researchers from the Schools of Environmental and Rural Sciences, Business, Economics and Public Policy, and Behavioural, Cognitive and Social Sciences at UNE during their visit.

In his Inaugural Lecture to the Armidale community on Wednesday 18 May, the UNE economics professor Mahinda Siriwardana will outline his approach to modelling the impact of a carbon tax.

Professor Siriwardana’s lecture, titled “Carbon tax, the economy and carbon dioxide emissions: Measuring the effects”, will be presented in non-technical terms by a politically neutral, independent expert. It is designed to help members of the community understand this nationally significant issue.

Professor Siriwardana (pictured here) is an expert in the “computable general equilibrium” approach to such modelling, and has developed numerous models using this approach over the past 30 years. After considering a range of tax levels ($5-$40 per tonne of carbon) he will discuss the impact of a $30-per-tonne tax using a model he has recently developed for this purpose.

“A preliminary analysis undertaken by simulating the impact of a carbon tax of $30 per tonne using this new model reveals that, in the short run, Australia’s real GDP may decline by 0.71 per cent, consumer prices may rise by 0.77 per cent, and the price of electricity may increase by about 29 per cent,” he said. “The good news is that a carbon tax of this magnitude may allow Australia to make a substantial cut in its carbon dioxide emissions. The simulation results imply an emission reduction of about 9.2 per cent of the 2005-based emissions.”

“The lecture will also propose an appropriate compensation package to ease the pressure on households due to rising costs of living after the tax,” he added.

Everyone is welcome to this free lecture by UNE’s Professor Mahinda Siriwardana, which will be in Armidale Town Hall at 6.30 pm. In the tradition of UNE’s Inaugural Lectures, there will be an academic procession.

Supper in the Town Hall foyer will follow the lecture.