Public consultation on the Climate Change Authority’s advice on meeting the Paris Agreement

The Climate Change Authority (Authority) has released a Consultation Paper regarding the Authority’s update of its previous advice to the Commonwealth Government on the policy toolkit required to meet Australia’s greenhouse gas emission reduction commitments under the Paris Agreement.

Submissions on the Consultation Paper may be emailed to submissions@climatechangeauthority.gov.au until 23 August 2019.

Guidance on the form of submissions is available here.

Background

In December 2015, 195 nations came together at the 21st Conference of the Parties of the United National Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) and reached an agreement on action to avoid and address climate change, known as the Paris Agreement. The Paris Agreement has the objective of holding the increase of the global average temperature to ‘well below’ 2ºC above pre-industrial levels and to ‘pursue efforts’ to limit the increase to 1.5ºC. To achieve this aim, the Paris Agreement relies on nations to achieve ‘intended’ (ie voluntary) ‘nationally determined contributions to reduce their emissions’. Australia set a national target to reduce emissions by 26-28% below 2005 levels by 2030.

Authority’s Previous Advice To Government

The Authority previously provided advice to the Commonwealth Government on the policies required to meet Australia’s 2030 emission target using a sectorial approach. This advice is contained in a number of reports by the Authority that are available here and a summary of the previous advice is available at page 2 of the Consultation Paper. The previous advice contained recommendations, amongst others, with respect to the enhancement of the safeguard mechanism and the implementation of emissions intensity scheme and target in the electricity sector.

What is the Consultation Paper

In response to changing economic, social and technological developments around climate change, the Authority has decided to review and update its previous advice to the Commonwealth Government on meeting the 2030 emission target. The Authority is particularly interested in feedback on the following questions:

1. What aspects of the Authority’s previous recommendations remain valid and why?
2. What are the opportunities and risks associated with the global transition to net zero emissions and how can Government assist the positioning of the Australian economy to take advantage of the opportunities and mitigate the risks?
3. What are the barriers (regulatory and non-regulatory) to realising emissions reductions and are there any additional supporting policies, regulations or government actions that could drive emissions reductions in cost effective ways?
4. What role should the Government play in enabling the development and uptake of low emissions technologies and development of associated industries?
5. What role should international units and carryover from earlier commitment periods have in Australia’s response to climate change?

Make a submission

Submissions on the Consultation Paper may be emailed to submissions@climatechangeauthority.gov.au by 23 August 2019.

Guidance on the form of submissions is available here.

If you have any queries about the Consultation Paper, please contact our team.

By Louise Kruger, Senior Associate, Brisbane, Tom Dougherty, Senior Associate, Sydney, and Nina Pearse, Solicitor, Sydney.