Carbon Pricing Mechanism—Which 500 companies pay the tax?

Image source: NSW Government

The Government has been clear that only Australia’s 500 biggest ‘carbon polluters’ will be directly affected by the proposed Carbon Pricing Mechanism (CPM). This is down from the 1000 that would have been liable under the previous Carbon Pollution Reduction Scheme, mainly due to the exclusion of fuels from the CPM. There has been some speculation as to which companies would be included in the Government’s list of 500, and which ones are Australia’s ‘top 50 carbon polluters’. The Parliamentary Library has published a short brief with some information on determining which corporations are likely to be included, and an explanation on why a definite list of 500 companies is not publicly available.