The Direct-Action Plan and the Carbon Tax are examples of two very different types of policies to address climate change. They are broadly representative of policies used by governments globally.

The Direct-Action Plan and the Carbon Tax are examples of two very different types of policies to address climate change. They are broadly representative of policies used by governments globally. Australia has used both types of policies allowing us to analyse the effectiveness of each policy at tackling climate change. Your goal is to compare and contrast these two policies and evaluate the likely impacts of each policy on a sector or a specific (private or public) company you will choose. In doing so, you should apply the knowledge gained in the subject, but you should not rely solely on the slides, you need to go to the primary sources. In particular, here is what you are expected to do (you can also see the concept map under week 6):

1)      Discuss the rationale and the theoretical underpinnings of the Carbon Tax and the Direct-Action Plan. Compare them and their expected effects.

2)      Choose either a sector (i.e. industry) or a specific company (private or public). The next slide has some examples, but do NOT choose both, only focus on a sector or a company They have to be Australian due to the focus on comparing the two types of Australian climate change policies. Here are some examples:

3)      Identify various predicted climate change impacts, risks and opportunities for the chosen company or sector arising from climate change.

4)      Carefully discuss the expected impacts of both the Carbon Tax and the Direct-Action Plan in Australia on your chosen sector or company.

5)      Based on your own research and understanding, outline appropriate adaptation strategies and justify them. We generally talk about economic subjects adapting to climate change, so that is the primary focus. But if you can also think about some ways that your company/sector is (or can be) adapting to the two discussed policies you can write them down.

6)      You are expected to draw some conclusions, policy recommendations, suggestions for improvement etc.

Please keep in mind that the task requires a substantial research effort using and reviewing material outside the reading list, because this authentic learning task is equivalent to your final examination for this subject.

Also keep in mind that your project should not just be descriptive, it should also provide some synthesis, your own thinking, your own arguments. These are valued more (even if they are not 100% correct) than just reproducing some facts from other sources. There is no single ‘correct’ approach to structure this report; you are free to adopt the structure that suits your case and your writing style. But think carefully about the structure to be easy to read, think about the reader – whether they get what they need to understand your arguments.