The Federal Government has secured the support of the Greens to implement a central climate change policy commitment.
The Safeguard Mechanism bill includes a hard cap on emissions, which would make 116 new coal and gas projects in the pipeline unviable, as their emissions would exceed the limit.
This policy will be an important part of Labor’s pledge to reduce carbon emissions by 43 per cent by 2030.
Professor Thomas Wiedmann, part of the Sustainability Assessment Program from the School of Civil and Environmental Engineering at the University of New South Wales, said it was reassuring to see the government and the Greens agreeing on a total cap of greenhouse gas emissions under the Safeguard Mechanism.
Prof. Wiedmann said: “This means that total emissions from big polluters in Australia will not rise, even if new coal and gas will be approved.
“However, for the climate this is something of a Pyrrhic victory as it does not guarantee that emissions are reduced fast enough to keep global warming close to 1.5 degrees Celsius.
“This is because offsets (which are inefficient) will still be allowed; and the cap only includes domestic (Scope 1 & 2) emissions but not those from burning exported fossil fuels overseas (Scope 3) – these could potentially still go up.”
Associate Professor Martin Brueckner, Pro Vice Chancellor of Sustainability at Murdoch University, said: “Climate science unequivocally argues for the need to cut emissions by around 70 per cent by 2030 to have a realistic chance to limit warming to 2 degrees Celsius this century.
He continued: “Any new coal and gas projects would serve to undermine this ambition.
“While the ‘hard emissions cap’ negotiated between Labor and The Greens does not equate to an outright ban on new fossil fuel projects in Australia, it raises the bar for the resources sector in that it effectively halves the allowable emissions of new projects.
“The resultant cost increases may render many of the 116 projects currently awaiting Australian government approval financially unviable; from a climate perspective, a step in the right direction.”
Professor David Schlosberg, Director of the Sydney Environment Institute at the University of Sydney, said the climate deal was progress.
Prof. Schlosberg said: “Remember, the Safeguard Mechanism is an Abbott-era invention, designed to fail.
“Labor said they wanted to improve it, and with this agreement with the Greens, they have.
“We finally have a stated cap on emissions in these sectors, and one that will decrease over time.
It is indeed better than the do-nothing policy Australia has had for over a decade.
“But, as the IPCC reminded us last week, current policies simply are not enough.
“This policy refinement should only be considered a start. Australia needs to push harder, and faster, to eliminate emissions from fossil fuels in all sectors.”
