Polands heads towards Feed-in-Tariff

Poland, a country that produces 90% of its electricity with coal and once a seemingly impregnable bastion of neoliberalism in the heart of Europe, has announced that it will introduce a new law on renewable energy. The new law will introduce feed-in tariffs for the first time.

The new law, the Renewable Energy Sources Act in English, will likely not take effect until early 2013.

The announcement was made by Poland's deputy minister, Mieczyslaw Kasprzak, at a press conference 27 July 2012.

Australia's politically controversial carbon tax launched

Australia on Sunday imposed a price on carbon emissions but, even as it starts, the scheme's future is in doubt with conservative opposition vowing to repeal it and whipping up a scare campaign around it.

Australia on Sunday joins a growing number of nations to impose a price on carbon emissions across its $1.4 trillion economy in a bitterly contested reform that offers trading opportunities for banks and polluters but may cost the prime minister her job.