Mathias Cormann: the OECD candidate who helped destroy Australia’s carbon-trading scheme

The former finance minister's climate pivot' has been met with a mixture of exasperation and bemusement

When the outgoing head of the OECD urged countries this week to put a big fat price on carbon", it might not have gone down well with the Australian vying to replace him.

Mathias Cormann, one of the final four contenders to replace Angel Gurria as OECD secretary general, was finance minister in the conservative government that abolished a carbon pricing scheme that had driven cuts in Australia's emissions.