CANBERRA (Reuters) - Australia will set a carbon price from July 1 2012 as an interim measure until a full emissions trading scheme can be introduced three to five years later, Prime Minister Julia Gillard said on Thursday.
But Gillard said no decision had yet been made on what the set price would be, or how much industry and households would be compensated for the new costs.
Australia, the world's biggest exporter of coal, is one of the highest per-capita carbon emitters in the developed world due to a reliance on coal for 80 percent of electricity generation.
The government has promised to cut emissions by five percent of year 2000 levels by 2020, and wants to price carbon emissions to encourage business to cut pollution.
(Reporting by James Grubel; Editing by Ed Davues)
