The Climate Council is urging the federal government to cease any new big emitting initiatives, noting that funding must be available to future-focused industries like green manufacturing and critical minerals.
In a submission to the Labour Government’s consultation on its proposed Safeguard Mechanism reforms, the council called for a pause on new polluting projects entering the Safeguard Mechanism while the federal Environment Protection Biodiversity Conservation Act (EPBC Act) is reformed.
On its ninth recommendation, the council emphasised the need for the Australian government to deliver a major package of initiatives and investment explicitly aimed at developing Australian green export industries to replace exported fossil fuels over time.
The magnitude and scope of this package should be in line with Australia’s “once-in-a-century” opportunity to become the world’s preferred provider of clean energy and environmentally friendly manufactured goods, the council said.
“The Safeguard Mechanism is not designed as a review process for new polluting projects, but the EPBC Act is,” said Jennifer Rayner, Climate Council’s head of advocacy.
She emphasised that there should be a hold on adding new projects to the Safeguard Mechanism until the government completes revising the EPBC Act so that emissions are taken into account directly for the first time.
The Safeguard Mechanism should be greatly strengthened, according to the council, to force major polluters to shoulder their share of the burden of reducing emissions and guarantee Australia meets its 43 per cent emissions reduction target at the very least.
The council added that gradually limiting the usage of carbon offsets will ensure that major emitters do not continue to pollute while only paying a small portion of their income for offsets.
“To avoid the worst impacts of harmful climate change, emissions must genuinely go down this decade – especially those from coal, oil and gas,” Rayner continued.
As opposed to the largest climate vandals in this country, Rayner added, “The Safeguard Mechanism must be set up to deliver real and rapid emissions reduction from day one.”
