Steps to cut the nation’s carbon emissions will be under way within weeks as Environment Minister Greg Hunt seeks ideas for the Coalition scheme to replace Labor’s carbon tax.
Mr Hunt will today outline the contentious Direct Action program, which he insists will tackle global warming without the need to spend billions of dollars on international carbon permits.
In his first major speech since taking office he will assure business and environmental leaders they will be fully consulted on how the scheme will work.
The terms of reference for the Emissions Reduction Fund, which will allocate $1.5 billion to new projects in its first three years, are to be released in the next few weeks under the minister’s timetable.
Dashing hopes that he might allow Australian companies to buy international permits to claim cuts to emissions, he will tell the Sustainability and Business Conference in Melbourne today there will be no need for the permits. Instead he will insist the domestic spending will be enough to meet the Coalition vow to cut Australia’s greenhouse gas emissions by 5 per cent by 2020, the minimum expected under global agreements.
Promising “simple and efficient” ways to reduce emissions, he will ask the industry to file submissions in the coming weeks on how to ensure the new spending has the maximum impact.
“The lowest cost abatement may involve projects to clean up waste coalmine gas, clean up power stations or to capture landfill gas,” Mr Hunt says in a draft of the speech. “It may be a mix of energy efficiency improvements in Australian households, commercial buildings and industrial facilities. It may be reafforestation of marginal lands or revegetation or improvement of soil carbon.
“In reality, it is likely to be a range of these.
“The important thing is not where the abatement is achieved, but that it is real, measurable and additional to business as usual.”
Making it clear existing schemes like the Carbon Farming Initiative and the Clean Energy Regulator will be part of the policy, he will say his plans will build “where possible” on the former Labor government’s programs.
“This will allow us to keep costs down and give successful businesses the certainty they need to run their operations effectively and remain competitive.”
While the Coalition has vowed to abolish the carbon tax as soon as possible, it has been less clear on how Direct Action will replace it amid forecasts that it is not enough to meet global goals.
The World Wildlife Fund said in August that under Direct Action there would be a 16 per cent increase in emissions by 2020 unless more was spent on abatement, while the Climate Institute funded research by Sinclair Knight Merz that found the government would have to spend another $4bn by 2020 to meet the 5 per cent target.
“Under the carbon tax, in order to have any hope of reaching the target of a 5 per cent cut in emissions by 2020 businesses will be forced to spend billions on overseas carbon credits to make up the shortfall,” Mr Hunt will say.
“By contrast, the Coalition’s Direct Action policy will achieve the emissions reduction needed to meet our 5 per cent target right here in Australia. And we will do it by investing in projects that directly reduce emissions, not by imposing an economy-wide ever-increasing electricity tax.”
