Query: U.S. Sen. Ron Johnson "led the fight to let polluters release unlimited amounts of carbon pollution and took nearly $225,000 from polluters."

Relevant passages:
Ron Johnson (Wisconsin politician) <=SEP=> Ronald Harold Johnson (born April 8, 1955) is an American businessman and politician serving as the senior United States Senator for Wisconsin. He is a member of the Republican Party. Johnson was first elected to the Senate in 2010, defeating Democratic incumbent Russ Feingold and re-elected in 2016, again defeating Feingold. Before politics, Johnson was chief executive officer of a polyester and plastics manufacturer founded by his brother-in-law.

Carbon Pollution Reduction Scheme <=SEP=> The Carbon Pollution Reduction Scheme ( or CPRS ) was a cap-and-trade emissions trading scheme for anthropogenic greenhouse gases proposed by the Rudd government , as part of its climate change policy , which had been due to commence in Australia in 2010 . It marked a major change in the energy policy of Australia . The policy began to be formulated in April 2007 , when the federal Labor Party was in Opposition and the six Labor-controlled states commissioned an independent review on energy policy , the Garnaut Climate Change Review , which published a number of reports . After Labor won the 2007 federal election and formed government , it published a Green Paper on climate change for discussion and comment . The Federal Treasury then modelled some of the financial and economic impacts of the proposed CPRS scheme .   The Rudd government published a final White Paper on 15 December 2008 , and announced that legislation was intended to take effect in July 2010 ; but the legislation for the CPRS ( aka ETS ) failed to gain the numbers in the Senate and was twice rejected creating a double dissolution election trigger . A bitter political debate within the Coalition Opposition saw Opposition leader Malcolm Turnbull lose the leadership to the anti-CPRS Tony Abbott . The Rudd government did not call an election and in April 2010 , Rudd deferred plans for the CPRS .   After the 2010 federal election , the Gillard Government was able to get the Carbon Pricing Mechanism ( CPM ) passed into law as part of the Clean Energy Futures Package ( CEF ) in 2011 , and became effective on 1 July 2012 . However , after the 2013 federal election there was a change in government , and the Abbott Government repealed the CEF package on 17 July 2014 . Due to the great deal of policy uncertainty surrounding the scheme , organizations in Australia responded in a rather informal and tepid manner and largely withheld from making any large-scale investments in emissions reductions technology during the scheme 's operation .

Emissions trading <=SEP=> Emissions trading or cap and trade is a government-mandated , market-based approach to controlling pollution by providing economic incentives for achieving reductions in the emissions of pollutants . In contrast to command-and-control environmental regulations such as best available technology ( BAT ) standards and government subsidies , cap and trade ( CAT ) schemes are a type of flexible environmental regulation that allows organizations to decide how best to meet policy targets . Various countries , states and groups of companies have adopted such trading systems , notably for mitigating climate change .   A central authority ( usually a governmental body ) allocates or sells a limited number of permits to discharge specific quantities of a specific pollutant per time period . Polluters are required to hold permits in amount equal to their emissions . Polluters that want to increase their emissions must buy permits from others willing to sell them . Financial derivatives of permits can also be traded on secondary markets .   In theory , polluters who can reduce emissions most cheaply will do so , achieving the emission reduction at the lowest cost to society . Cap and trade is meant to provide the private sector with the flexibility required to reduce emissions while stimulating technological innovation and economic growth .   There are active trading programs in several air pollutants . For greenhouse gases , which cause climate change , permit units are often called carbon credits . The largest greenhouse gases trading program is the European Union Emission Trading Scheme , which trades primarily in European Union Allowances ( EUAs ) ; the Californian scheme trades in California Carbon Allowances , the New Zealand scheme in New Zealand Units and the Australian scheme in Australian Units . The United States has a national market to reduce acid rain and several regional markets in nitrogen oxides .