Daily News | Online News
The Greens do not support excluding coal and gas from the safeguard mechanism in the future, but want it to be overhauled to have stronger emission reduction requirements on fossil fuels.
Mr Bandt will say the Albanese government’s plans for 30 million tonnes of credits for new entrants under the scheme would inevitably be snapped up by new coal projects.
“To put this into perspective, there are 42 coal mines in the approvals
process that could easily fit within this new entrant reserve. It’s a recipe for burden shifting and climate collapse,” he will tell the Summit.
The Albanese government is undertaking a review of the safeguard mechanism which was first introduced by the Abbott government in 2016.
The safeguard mechanism – which affects the top 215 industrial polluters that emit more than 100,000 tonnes of carbon a year – has been criticised for not having any “bite”, with big emitters able to move their emission baselines without penalty.
But Mr Bowen has pledged to tighten the baselines to force companies to change their behaviour.
“We chose the safeguard mechanism because although it wasn’t working, the actual architecture of it is elegant enough for us to proceed with to make it work,” he told the Summit on Monday.
Mr Bowen said the safeguard mechanism would play a “big role” in helping Australia reach its new 43 per cent emissions reduction target by 2030. He said he hoped to legislate the safeguard mechanism changes in the Autumn sittings of parliament next year, ahead of its introductions on July 1.
Mr Bandt, however, has threatened to stall the safeguard mechanism in the Senate, saying new coal, oil and gas projects – which form more than half of all projects – should not be part of Australia’s economic future.
“Steel, iron and aluminium manufacturing, glass and brick works, recycling and waste disposal, transport – airlines, trucks and other vehicles, agriculture – food and fibre, it all has a green future,” the Greens leader will say.
“Coal and gas do not. And while we want to see new industries flourish, we cannot afford new coal and gas.”
Mr Bandt will say that under Labor’s review of the safeguard mechanism, there has been allocation of 30 million tonnes a year for new entrants to the scheme.
“To put this into perspective, there are 42 coal mines in the approvals
process that could easily fit within this new entrant reserve. It’s a recipe for burden shifting and climate collapse,” Mr Bandt will tell the Summit.
Mr Bandt will say coal and gas projects should be “cut loose”, and will describe them as the “new asbestos and tobacco”.
“Although the safeguard is far from our preferred way of cutting pollution, the Greens are open to supporting a safeguard mechanism that treats genuine Australian industry differently to coal and gas, because while the former can expand, the latter cannot,” he will say.
0 Comments :
Post a Comment