The vote in the Senate, after five years of heated debate in the country, endorses the central plank of the government's commitment to cut carbon emissions by 5% of year 2000 levels by 2020.

From July 2012 Australia's 500 highest-polluting companies will face a fixed price of A$23 ($23.80) per tonne of carbon emitted, ahead of the introduction of a cap-and-trade scheme by mid-2015.

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