Energy demand in Australia is a significant topic for investigation in light of carbon tax and impacts upon sustainable energy planning.

“Adaptation to carbon-tax-induced changes in energy demand in rural and regional Australia” is a four year project funded by an Australian Research Council (ARC) Linkage grant, with partnership support from AGL Energy Ltd. Professor Mahinda Siriwardana from the UNE Business School leads this collaborative ARC project with four other researchers: Dr Samuel Meng and Dr Judy McNeill from UNE and Mr Tim Nelson and Professor Paul Simshauser from AGL.

The project aims to assess the impact of the carbon pricing on energy cost and energy demand in the context of Australia’s current mitigation effort- 5% emissions reduction from 2000 level by 2020 and 28% reduction from 2005 level by 2030 as agreed in the Paris Conference in December 2015. The significant shift in carbon pricing and mitigation policies in Australia have lead to the repeal of carbon tax by the present coalition government.

Current government policy is pushing for a direct action plan. The project team is conducting research with the belief that a global Emissions Trading Scheme (ETS) can become a dominant policy force, which will achieve higher abatement targets in Australia and overseas.

Other impact from this project includes the design of ETS scenarios for the country’s climate policy in order to directly contribute to the broader international climate policy debate. The design process includes policy simulations with reference points pulled from national and international carbon pricing literature, in particular where referencing ETS and a direct action plan.

Findings from this analysis were presented in five papers under an organized session – Studies on Australian Carbon Policy – at the GTAP international conference, June 2015 in Melbourne.

In this, the 4th year of the project, UNE Business School is pleased to share news of the excellent outcomes of three UNE PhD students working on different aspects of the project, supervised by the project team.

Mr Duy Nong worked on ‘Australia’s energy supply in a low carbon economy: a CGE modelling approach’. Duy submitted his thesis in late May, 2016. Duy will take up a 2-year Postdoctoral Fellow position at Colorado State University, USA, in October. He plans to continue his climate change policy research at Colorado.

Mrs Trang Tran worked on ‘A CGE analysis of distributional and welfare effects of Australia’s carbon emissions reduction strategies’. Trang submitted her thesis in June.

These two students are expected to receive their PhD results at any time from now on.

The third PhD student is Mr Tim Nelson, who is also one Chief Investigator (from AGL) of the ARC project. Mr Nelson submitted his PhD thesis in April and received results in early August. His thesis is entitled ‘The emergence of new energy technologies–economic and public policy implications of Australia’s changing electricity markets’. In recognition of his excellent PhD results, Tim will receive the Chancellor’s Doctoral Research Medal at the Graduation Ceremony in October.

UNE Business School look forward to sharing more news from these PhD graduates and congratulates them for their great results.