The Greens have secured a deal with Labor to support the Federal Government’s signature climate bill.
It comes after the Greens secured a host of changes to the safeguard mechanism bill, including a hard cap on actual or absolute emissions, and a pollution trigger that could instigate further changes on the bill.
The safeguard mechanism, which has passed the House of Representatives, involves imposing emission constraints on 215 of the largest polluting projects in Australia.
Specifically, it requires the projects to cut, or pay offsets, to reduce their emissions intensity by 4.9 per cent per year in order to reach 205 million tonnes of greenhouse gas reduction by 2030.
Labor’s climate policy centres around its pledge to reduce carbon emissions by 43 per cent by 2030.
As reported by the Guardian, Bowen said the deal was aligned with the election promise not to ban new fossil fuel projects while also working towards reducing carbon emissions.
He thanked those who helped in ensuring “accountability, transparency and integrity for the scheme, and ensure flexibility and support for industry”.
There would be no limits set on companies’ use of carbon offsets to meet their emissions reductions. However, if a company uses offsets to meet 30 per cent or more of its requirements, an explanation will need to be given to the relevant regulator.
The Sydney Morning Herald reported that companies can work towards meeting these reductions by “buying carbon credits generated by projects such as tree planting or they can switch old fossil fuel technology to cleaner systems powered by renewable energy”.
This deal between the two parties means that Labor has the numbers to pass the bill through the Senate this week. If the bill passes, it would take force from July 1.