One of Labor’s election promises on energy and emissions was to strengthen the existing system of limits and trades on major carbon emitters, known as the Safeguards Mechanism. Accordingly, major polluters are required to purchase or forgo carbon credits to offset any direct emissions above the agreed baseline. Labor’s plan is reduce emissions baselines for these transmitters over time. “The government will then need to resist industry pressure to keep ambitions low,” Jotzo said, warning that the industry would lobby for the baselines to be eased.
This is exactly what happened under the coalition government after the government instituted this limited and commercial plan. Firms continuously push for adjustments to their baselines, which ultimately lead to 32 percent increase in the emissions they are allowed to produce.
Another pillar of the Labor Party’s electoral platform is the National Tram Strategy. In 2020, less than 1.4 percent of all light vehicles sold in Australia were electric, compared with about three-quarters of all light vehicles sold that year in Norway. Overall, only 0.12% of all light transport in Australia is electric. Manufacturers like Volkswagen have refused to enter the Australian market because lack of motivation for EVs.
So going into the election, Labor promised Eliminate import duties and reduce taxes on some electric vehicles and accelerate the rollout of charging infrastructure. But they still haven’t gone far enough, Jotzo said. “They haven’t committed to doing what in many countries is the biggest driver of electric car consumption, and that is putting in place emissions standards across the fleet,” he said. Requiring all automakers to meet emissions targets across their range encourages large investments in electric models to offset emissions from petrol and diesel models.
But the biggest issue in Australia’s climate action ointment is its fossil fuel reserves – coal and gas in particular – and the question of how the country can safely and smoothly transition. share from sources of supply for domestic use and export.
“Because it is a mining resource, the government generates royalties for government and energy,” said Samantha Hepburn, professor and expert in mining and energy law at Deakin University in Melbourne. recreating doesn’t do that. In contrast, renewable projects will generate very little revenue for the government. “When we talk about energy transition, I don’t think that phrase really captures it — it’s revolutionary.”
Some progress on renewable energy has been made within the coalition government. A lasting activity renewable energy goals requires large-scale energy producers to generate 33 terawatt-hours of renewable energy by 2020, and this is easily met in 2019. But the lack of new targets has created an atmosphere of no certainly in the field of renewable energy. reduce investment in new projects.
The Labor Party’s ‘Power Australia’ policy now promises to upgrade the grid to allow better integration of renewables, investing in community battery and solar banks across the country. countries, and deploying low-emission technologies.
But the current global gas crisis, caused by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, has plunged Australia into a world of energy misery that is largely self-produced. There are no export controls on the country’s vast gas reserves on the east coast, which are currently selling for sky-high prices in international markets, not for domestic use. country. As a result, domestic gas prices have skyrocketed and there is still not enough renewable energy to deal with the drop. Meanwhile, Australia’s network of aging coal-fired power plants has been dwindling over the past decade.
