Impairment of carbon-intensive assets : evidence from the Australian railway industry and ASX 200 companies

In November 2011, the Australian Parliament approved legislation to introduce a carbon emissions reduction plan in Australia. The plan is implemented from July 2012. This study is one of the first accounting studies to investigate the potential financial impacts of this plan on the Australian rail industry and on Australian listed companies. Based on Australian Accounting Standard AASB 136 and previous literature, this study develops hypotheses and economic models to investigate whether this plan will impair the values of carbon-intensive assets.