The Greens say they will pass the Albanese government’s planned overhaul of the safeguard mechanism – a climate policy promised to cut industrial emissions – if Labor is prepared to stop new coal and gas projects.
Instead of seeking to limit the number of carbon credits businesses can use to meet their new obligations to reduce pollution, the Greens party room resolved on Tuesday to narrow the focus to securing a ban on new coal and gas either through an amendment to the safeguard legislation, or a new “climate trigger” in environmental law.
The Greens have been signalling for months they want the Albanese government to stop new coal and gas projects. Labor says it has no electoral mandate to do that, and that new developments would be allowed with initial emissions limits set at “international best practice”.
But the Greens will occupy the kingmaking position in the Senate because the Coalition has resolved to oppose Labor’s safeguard revamp despite proposing similar measures before the Morrison government lost the election last May.
Toughening the safeguard regime will be a critical component of meeting the more ambitious climate targets the Albanese government legislated last year. The government wants the reforms in place by July.
The safeguard mechanism was introduced by Tony Abbott after the Coalition repealed Labor’s carbon price. The Abbott-era scheme purported to stop emissions from Australia’s heaviest polluting facilities increasing. In reality, companies were often allowed to lift their CO2 limits and industrial emissions continued to rise.
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Labor promised at last May’s election to keep the basic architecture of the safeguard mechanism but toughen the regulatory requirements so that industrial emissions come down in a trajectory consistent with the government’s national climate targets for 2030 and 2050.
The changes would set new emissions intensity limits for the country’s 215 biggest emitting facilities and reduce them by 4.9% a year for most companies. Polluters would also have unlimited access to carbon credits, which allow them to pay for cuts elsewhere instead of making reductions onsite.
In the lead-up to debate expected in the House of Representatives on Wednesday, the Greens leader, Adam Bandt, noted that the government’s overhaul won’t pass unless his party supports it, and the time has come for Labor to “decide how much it wants new coal and gas mines”.
“The Greens have huge concerns with other parts of the scheme, such as the rampant use of offsets and the low emissions reduction targets,” Bandt said. “But we’re prepared to put those concerns aside and give Labor’s scheme a chance if Labor agrees to stop opening new coal and gas projects.”
“Labor needs the Greens to get this through parliament. If Labor’s scheme falls over, it will be because Labor wants to open new coal and gas mines.”
Shortly after the Greens party room resolved their negotiating stance on Tuesday, the resources minister, Madeleine King, told parliament that gas would be needed “for a number of years” during the transition to low emissions.
King said critical minerals such as lithium, cobalt and “new developments in nickel hydroxide” would be “the underpinning of clean technologies that will take us to net zero emissions”.
“All of these industries … that have existed in this country since the 1880s, through extraction right through to today, will play a part in our economy for many years to come,” King said.
“We want to increase activity in renewables and we have a commitment to net zero emissions by 2050, but even as the International Energy Agency has acknowledged, we will still need to use products such as gas to make sure we can process critical minerals.”
The head of the International Energy Agency, Fatih Birol, warned two years ago that while fossil fuel use would not stop overnight, the world must stop investing in new gas and oil fields and coal power plants if it is to stay within safe limits of global heating and reach net zero emissions by 2050.
King told parliament the safeguard mechanism was part of the governments’s “active response to climate change” and she said Labor intended to make heavy emitters “accountable for their emissions”.
“Gas companies do have to reach net zero emissions and they will be held accountable by this government,” the resources minister said.
The legislation before parliament deals with crediting arrangements in the safeguard scheme. The government will pursue other adjustments to the regime via regulation.
