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Highlights:
- On Thursday (8 September 2022), climate change legislation was passed by the Australian parliament.
- The new legislation was passed with the support of the Greens, senators, and the government.
- The bill targets to cut emissions by 43% by 2030 and let Australia become net zero by 2050.
On 8 September 2022, the Australian parliament passed the much sought after legislation pledging to reduce carbon emissions by 43% by 2030 and achieve net zero by 2050. This new legislation was passed with the support of government, key crossbench senators and the Greens. The Greens is an Australian political party.
This new law is the first step on climate change since the Labor party got in power in May 2022, defeating a conservative government that was looked down on as a laggard in the fight against climate change. The Labor party is expected to face numerous challenges in passing other environmental bills in the battle against climate change.
Chris Bowen, climate change and energy minister, commented on the development that:
What are the new emission targets?
The new legislation states that government agencies need to take into account the emission targets while developing their budgets, regulations or infrastructure. The bill also states that businesses require to follow new energy usage standards and encourages businesses to adopt renewable energy.
The Greens said, while backing up the bill, that they would seek to block new natural gas and coal mines projects via reforming the ‘safeguard mechanism’. This reform would put a cap on industrial polluters.
The ‘safeguard mechanism’ is expected to cover around 215 industrial sites, which include manufacturing plants, liquefied natural gas (LNG) and coal mines. Together, they contributed approximately 28% of emissions the previous year (2021).
The Climate Change Authority would put forward future climate targets.
By the next year, the legislation is expected before the targeted implementation date of 1 July 2023.
Image source: © Sdvor24 | Megapixl.com
Australia and its carbon credit
There is an Australian Carbon Credit Units (ACCUs) scheme which incentivises companies to reduce their footprint; it is a voluntary carbon market mechanism.
According to a report by ACCUs, a record volume of carbon credits was traded in Australia during the second quarter of 2022. This record volume indicates the market is growing despite the criticism it is receiving globally.
Reportedly, in Q2 2022, the total transaction volume was 4x more than the previous year. When comparing June 2021 to June 2022, there was a 5-fold surge in carbon credit traded.
