Environment & Energy
What we stand for
Scientific evidence supports major risks from the sharp rise on atmospheric green house gases. While there is, and will remain, significant uncertainty about the trajectory of future climate change, the risk of catastrophic effects justifies appropriate action.
Environmental challenges need to be tackled effectively, while minimising adverse impact on living standards. A sustainable economy is one which delivers the social and economic needs of the present, without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs. Achieving this means finding the least cost, effective solutions to addressing environmental challenges. The current suite of Government policies falls well short of this.
Well-functioning markets are usually the best way to achieve outcomes for society. Well-functioning markets, with competing decision-makers, have been demonstrated to be far more successful in achieving benefits for society than private or Government monopoly decision-making. They are better at innovating, revealing and processing new information and responding to uncertainty.
Well-designed regulation should harness the power of markets to achieve environmental outcomes. All markets operate within rules, including regulation and taxation, both to aid the functioning of markets and to address wider - including environmental - objectives. Those rules need to be well-designed to harness the power of markets for society’s benefit, including for addressing environmental challenges.
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