Australia's Climate Change Economics and Policy

Climate Change Economics and Policy
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Contents TOC \o "1-3" \h \z \u 1.0 Introduction PAGEREF _Toc52467279 \h 32.0 Predicted effects of climate change on the food manufacturing sector PAGEREF _Toc52467280 \h 43.0 Carbon Tax Act 2012, the Direct Action Plan policies, and their critiques PAGEREF _Toc52467281 \h 53.1 Carbon Tax Act of 2012 PAGEREF _Toc52467282 \h 53.2 Direct Action Plan PAGEREF _Toc52467283 \h 63.3 Critique of the Carbon Tax Act 2012 and Direct Action Plan policies PAGEREF _Toc52467284 \h 64.0 Risks and opportunities PAGEREF _Toc52467285 \h 74.1 Risks PAGEREF _Toc52467286 \h 84.2 Opportunities PAGEREF _Toc52467287 \h 95.0 Adaptive strategies PAGEREF _Toc52467288 \h 96.0 Conclusion PAGEREF _Toc52467289 \h 10Reference PAGEREF _Toc52467290 \h 11
1.0 Introduction
Climate is the general weather conditions of a place over a long period (Denchak, 2017). For example, northern Australia's climate is hot, humid during summer, warm, and dry during the winter ("Climate of the World: Australia | weatheronline.co.uk," n.d.). Climate change refers to the variation of weather conditions over time in a particular region or globally. Climate change happens over a long time of decades hence the difference in general weather variations over a short time. Several factors lead to climate change. They include volcanic activities, solar radiations reaching the earth, plate tectonic movements, and biotic processes. Human activities like industrialization, oil spills, overfishing, and deforestation, among others, also lead to climate change (Denchak, 2017). The effects of climate change are global, and it has paralyzed several economic sectors in the world. The economic sectors affected by climate change include food manufacturing, governance, agriculture, mining, forestry, banking, and tourism. Different governments have enforced policies and laws that impede climate change. Private sectors are also working together with governments all over the world to improvise ways of preventing climate.
Similarly, the Australian government formulated measures and policies to help curb the causes of climate change. The government introduced the Carbon Tax Act 2012 to help reduce greenhouse gas emissions and other agents of climate change that would affect the environment. Additionally, the government also introduced the Direct Action Plan policy to substitute the Carbon Tax Act 2012 in solely curbing the emission of greenhouse gases. This work compares the two policies the Australian government introduced while exploring the likely impacts the policies brought in the country's food manufacturing sector. The paper also explores the likely impacts of climate change in Australia's food-manufacturing sector, rationale, and the theoretical strengths of the Carbon Tax Act 2012 compared to the Direct Action Plan policy. Finally, the paper identifies different risks and opportunities in the country's food manufacturing sector and state various strategies that can be adapted for the better the sector.
2.0 Predicted effects of climate change on the food manufacturing sector
The food-manufacturing sector is crucial globally because it keeps human life alive. The sector depends on agriculture for raw materials meaning the effects of climate change on the agricultural sector directly affect food manufacturing. Climate change will hit the sector in different ways.
Extreme weather harms livestock and crops hence decline farm yields (Simmons, 2020). Heavy rains and storms damage crops on the farm and might kill animals. Landslides equally lead to the destruction of land used for farming. This will affect the availability of resources that the food manufacturing industries use. The extreme weather conditions make some farmers forego agriculture to try their luck in other sectors, further affecting food production due to declined farm yields.
Climate change leads to the drying up of water sources, an essential factor in farm and food production. The scarcity of water leads to a decline in agricultural production in the country. Livestock needs a lot of water for survival. Water is also essential in growing feeds for the livestock, and its scarcity leads to a decline in livestock production. Similarly, crops like maize, wheat, and rice depend on water for growth (Simmons, 2020). The shortage of water makes it expensive to sustain livestock and crop farming. This subsequently affects the availability of resources for food production.
It is hard for farmers to adapt to climate change, making them forego some agricultural activities that food-manufacturing industries depend on. For example, high temperatures lead to the drying up of animal feeds and crops too. It means farmers will have to spend more on irrigation and greenhouses, making it expensive to produce farm produce (Simmons, 2020). Industries that manufacture food lack enough raw materials in the process leading to less food production.
Wildfire affects crops, livestock farming directly and indirectly (Rojas-Downing et al., 2017). Climate change leads to high temperatures making forests and the shrubs prone to fires. When fire breaks, crops get burned. While livestock might also lose lives in fires outbreak, fire destroys the food meant for the livestock, especially in cattle ranches. It implies that food-producing industries will collapse along with the agriculture sector.
Lastly, climate change affects the quality of animals and crops. Inadequate animal feed leads to the deterioration of the animal's health, subsequently affecting the food produced in the industries. Climate change affects the quality of crops too. The food manufacturing industry will, in turn, have low-quality products that do not meet the market standards recording losses (Rojas-Downing et al., 2017).
3.0 Carbon Tax Act 2012, the Direct Action Plan policies, and their critiques
3.1 Carbon Tax Act of 2012
Carbon Tax Act is a government policy that controls industries that emit carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases. It applies to manufacture industries and motor vehicle firms whose operations emit greenhouse gases into the environment. Therefore, the policy is a price tag. The companies should pay for emitting the gases into the atmosphere. The financial incentive that encourages companies to reduce the emission of gases into the environment. The logic behind the Carbon Tax Act is to tax companies that emit gases into the environment, depending on the size of emission. The higher the amount of carbon emitted attracts a more massive fine, hence creating revenue for the environment and encouraging the industries to reduce their carbon emissions to save on their tax spending. Additionally, the policy gave the firms an advantage of extra accreditation when they cut down carbon emission. The financial strategy has helped a lot in conserving the environment by reducing air pollution (Coplands, 2020).
3.2 Direct Action Plan
The Direct Action Plan policy came in to supplement the Carbon Tax Act, which seemed not to bear the wanted fruits in cutting down carbon emission. The Australian government targeted reducing greenhouse gas emissions to five percent at the end of this year, 2020, using the Emission Reducing Fund, ERF. The Australian government set aside $2.55 billion under the Direct Action Plan to pay local councils, community organizations, businesses, and other society members to scale down carbon emission into the environment. Interested entities are required to register projects that emit less carbon into the env...