Energy Minister Chris Bowen doesn’t rule out carbon tariff on high emissions producing imports

Energy Minister Chris Bowen has been accused of wanting to “follow Donald Trump’s lead” after he refused to rule out a carbon tariff on high-emitting imports.

Chris Bowen has been accused of following “Donald Trump’s lead” over comments suggesting Australia could force carbon tariffs on emission-heavy imports.

Mr Bowen didn’t rule out enacting a carbon tariff on carbon-heavy sectors like cement and lime, stating that “we’ll have more to say during the course of this term”.

He said decisions would be made to “ensure Australian industry is best placed to complete in a decarbonising world”.

“I’d urge against sweeping generalisations about policy settings,” he told the ABC on Sunday.

“What could be the case is obviously we look at particular sectors first, around cement and lime are places that we’ve looked at in particular, but again, I’m not going to get in front of the process.”

Energy Minister Chris Bowen didn’t rule out the potential for Labor to enact a carbon tariff in its second term of government. Picture: NewsWire/ Martin Ollman

Mr Bowen also referred to the Carbon Leakage Review which was conducted by Professor Frank Jotzo.

Initial findings backed a border carbon adjustment mechanism that would make importers pay for the carbon created during production, identifying at-risk commodities like cement, lime and clinker, and moderate risk products like steel, glass and ammonia.

“We asked Professor Jotzo to look at this, he’s been doing excellent work consulting Australian industry very heavily,” he said.

“I’ve had lots of meetings with steel makers and cement makers about these things over the past 12 months, for example, getting their feedback, and we’ll have more to say during the course of this term.”

Newly installed Coalition energy and emissions reduction spokesman Dan Tehan seized on Mr Bowen’s comments.

“Now before the election, Chris Bowen, this arrogant minister, said nothing about carbon tariffs, and yet, here he is immediately after the election, talking about putting them in place,” he said in a video shared on social media.

“Now let’s have a look at what this minister has presided over. He’s put our energy security at risk. He’s put electricity prices up, he’s put gas prices up, and he’s put emissions up, and now he wants to follow Donald Trump’s lead and put in place tariffs. What a mess.”

The Coalition’s new energy and emissions reduction spokesman Dan Tehan accused Labor of springing the tariffs without seeking a mandate. Picture: NewsWire/ Martin Ollman

Appearing on Insiders, Mr Bowen also maintained that Australia is “by and large on track” to meet our 43 per cent 2030 emission reduction targets, despite figures released on Friday revealing that emissions had increased year-on-year by 0.05 per cent.

While Mr Bowen conceded Australia needed to “do more” to reach net zero by 2050, he said output from renewables were “very encouraging,” while transport remained an issue.

“Now our new vehicle efficiency standards only came into force on 1 January, for example. I wouldn’t pretend that they’ve yet had an impact,” he said.

“These are the sorts of things that we need to keep going on to ensure that we can achieve and will achieve a 43 per cent emissions reduction, which I’m very confident we can and will.”

Originally published as Energy Minister Chris Bowen doesn’t rule out carbon tariff on high emissions producing imports