News

30 June 2023

Submission to Climate Change Authority re. Setting, tracking and achieving Australia’s emissions reduction targets

I welcome the opportunity to provide a submission to the consultation on setting, tracking and achieving Australia’s emissions reduction targets. Essential to the achievement of Australia’s ambition to combat climate change is:

• the next Nationally Determined Contribution be set at a sufficiently ambitious level,
• ensuring that the Annual Climate Change Statement reports on the key elements, and
• the National Greenhouse and Energy Reporting (NGER) Act be modernised to reflect recent developments in scientific understanding of climate change.

Since my election in 2019, I have been championing stronger action on climate change from within Federal Parliament. I welcome the efforts of the Government to legislate a long-term target of net zero by 2050 and 43 percent by 2030, as well as the reinvestment in the Climate Change Authority. Although, considering the insights I gained from the 46th Parliament, I believe significant gaps remain in Australia’s legislative framework to address climate change. In particular:

• Absence of a regular target setting process to ensure multiple emissions reduction budgets,
• No sector-based emissions reduction budgets and targets,
• No comprehensive national risks assessment of global warming and climate change impacts to communities and industries,
• No comprehensive national adaptation and resilience plans to mitigate and respond to risks across communities and industries,
• Reliance on estimates and facility averages for the assessment and reporting of methane emissions and lack of methane specific abatement and/or capture targets.
  
  Read full submission below or click here.