Simon Birmingham (SA, Liberal Party, Minister for Trade) Share this | Hansard source

Let me try to give a little bit of an explanation about why it is that Australia has surplus credits. Do you know why we have surplus credits? Because, when it comes to the first Kyoto commitment period, we overachieved. We made a commitment to the world that we would reduce our emissions and we did so not only by the margin we'd promised but by more than that, and that generated a surplus. Guess what's happened with the 2020 target—the second Kyoto commitment period? We made a commitment to the world again that we would reduce our emissions, and we met that commitment, and we overachieved. We overachieved for a second time. That is why Australia has carryover credits. Do you know what other countries do? Other countries don't achieve the emissions reductions in their own country and go and buy credits from elsewhere around the world. We've achieved the reforms in Australia—overachieved—and that's why those credits exist.