Australia in bid to deal with industrial polluters

13 Jan, 2023 - 00:01 0 Views
Australia in bid to deal  with industrial polluters

eBusiness Weekly

Australia’s big polluting sites will have to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by nearly 5 percent a year but will face no limits on the use of carbon offsets under the Albanese government’s plan to deal with industrial emitters.

The climate change minister, Chris Bowen, on Tuesday released the government’s plan to revamp the safeguard mechanism, a Coalition policy that was promised to limit emissions from the country’s biggest 215 industrial facilities, but in practice has failed.

Starting from 1 July, big polluters would be expected to cut their emissions intensity – how much they emit per unit of production — by 4,9 percent a year until 2030.

That was forecast to cut industrial emissions by at least 30 percent between 2021 and 2030, from 143 million tonnes a year to no more than 100 million tonnes.

The positions paper said the government had opted to set limits on emissions intensity, and not outright emissions, to encourage businesses to move to cleaner practice rather than reducing their production in Australia.

Big-emitting facilities would initially get site-specific emissions intensity limits — known as baselines — reflecting their local circumstances.

The system would move to industry-wide baselines by 2030.

New polluters, including coal and gas mines, would be allowed to open, and would have to fit within the annually reducing industrial emissions total.

The government said their baselines would be “set at international best practice, adapted for an Australian context”, reflecting that they have the opportunity to immediately use the latest clean technology —T he Guardian

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