The Commonwealth Parliament has passed the Climate Change Bill 2022, officially legislating Australia’s commitment to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
The Bill was introduced to the House of Representatives on 27 July 2022, in the first parliamentary week of the Albanese Government, and has now passed both houses of parliament with support from the Greens and crossbench senators.
What’s in the Bill?
In a nutshell, the Bill:
legislates Australia’s greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions reduction targets, being a 43% reduction from 2005 GHG levels and net zero by 2050; and
requires the Minister to prepare and table an annual climate change statement based on advice given by the Climate Change Authority (CCA).
What else?
The Bill is complemented by the Climate Change (Consequential Amendments) Bill 2022 (Consequential Amendments Bill) which will amend the objects of several critical pieces of legislation to align with the goals of the Climate Change Bill.
The Consequential Amendments Bill will require some Commonwealth Government agencies to consider Australia’s emissions reductions targets as part of their functions. This includes the Australian Renewable Energy Agency, the Clean Energy Regulator, CSIRO and the Northern Australia Infrastructure Facility. This does not extend to the National Offshore Petroleum Safety and Environmental Management Authority.
What does the Bill mean?
Australia’s emissions reduction target was one of the key policy issues in the May 2022 election. The Albanese Government acted to update Australia’s nationally determined contribution (NDC) under the Paris Agreement on 16 June 2022, notifying the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change of Australia’s new commitment to reduce GHG emissions by 43% below 2005 levels by 2030.
In this way, the Bill is largely symbolic. Although it is not strictly necessary for the Australian Government to enshrine its NDC commitments in legislation, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change’s Climate Change 2022: Mitigation of Climate Change report found that domestic climate laws enable countries to better facilitate climate action.
The Bill gives advisory functions to the CCA (an independent statutory agency established under the Gillard Government) to give the Minister advice that relates to preparation of the annual climate change statement. The CCA is also to advise the Minister on the GHG reduction targets to be included in a new or adjusted NDC.
The Bill’s Explanatory Memorandum is clear that the targets are not a ceiling on Australia’s emissions reduction efforts. The Bill does not prevent its targets from being surpassed or achieved early.
The Bill also provides for periodic review.
What’s next?
The Bill is not a detailed plan to address economic or industrial opportunities in the race to net zero. It does not include a mechanism to cut emissions from electricity, industry, transport, or agriculture. However, the Government has indicated that it is separately working on a range of policies and programs to drive emissions reduction.
Passing this Bill is an important symbol of Australia’s commitment to addressing climate change and achieving net zero. While it has been hailed as an end to the ‘climate wars’, there will no doubt be future debate around how these emissions targets will be reached.
Just this week, the Greens introduced the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Amendment (Climate Trigger) Bill 2022 (Climate Trigger Bill), which provides for assessment and approval under the EPBC Act for actions that would emit between 25,000 to 100,000 tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent scope 1 emissions in any 12-month period. In addition, it proposes requirements for a national carbon budget and for the Minister to reject the approval of actions that would emit over 100,000 tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent scope 1 emissions in any 12-month period. It is unclear how much support there will be for the Climate Trigger Bill.
For more information, please contact HopgoodGanim’s Resources and Energy team.