Turnbull leaves open idea of carbon credits to meet emissions target

'High quality units' could lower cost of obligations, discussion paper says, despite previous opposition from Tony Abbott

The Turnbull government has left open the prospect of using international carbon credits to help meet Australia's emissions reduction targets at lowest cost, a practice Tony Abbott ruled out when he was prime minister.

While Abbott used to characterise the trade of international credits as "money that shouldn't be going offshore into dodgy carbon farms in Equatorial Guinea and Kazakhstan" - a new discussion paper, released on Friday, notes that "high quality international units could contribute to lowering the costs of meeting [Australia's] 2030 target".