Australia's greenhouse gas emissions

To an economist, greenhouse gas emissions are a negative externality. They arise because the private cost of releasing them is very low when compared with their social cost. Until recently the emitters of greenhouse gases have not been required to pay for the pollution that they have contributed to our common property, the atmosphere. They have not paid the cost of cleaning up their emissions or compensation to those who have been affected adversely. Scientists have found that greenhouse emissions contribute to global warming. Basically, globally we are generating greenhouse gases far quicker than the atmosphere can handle, so greenhouse gas levels are rising and global warming results, with all of its adverse effects.