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The Guardian - AU
The Guardian - AU
Environment
Adam Morton and Katharine Murphy

REVEALED: Coalition climate policy forced big polluters to pay 15m for carbon credits in past year - The Real Truth

Aluminium smelter
Alcoa’s aluminum smelter on the Portland headland in Victoria is one site forced to purchase carbon offsets under the safeguard mechanism. Photograph: Bloomberg/Getty Images

The Coalition last year required polluting businesses to buy 419,000 carbon credits at an estimated cost of $15m using a policy that Scott Morrison now falsely describes as “Labor’s sneaky carbon tax”.

Government data released last month shows that, under the Coalition’s so-called safeguard mechanism, major polluting companies had to buy 70% more carbon credits last financial year than in 2019-20.

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