Labor came to power promising real change on climate. But their reliance on accounting tricks, carbon sinks, offsets and a future for gas has cast a very large cloud.
Banning public funding for overseas fossil fuel projects will boost Australia’s climate leadership. But can it take the next step and do it domestically?
In May, the Northern Territory government greenlit the mammoth Beetaloo Basin fracking project. But they did so based on a report with optimistic projections on offsets and emissions.
To address the climate crisis, governments need to limit new fossil fuel developments. But foreign investors are often protected under trade and investment agreements.
Capping the wholesale gas price is a poor attempt to decouple the domestic market from the volatile international market. The only sure way forward is a domestic reservation policy for the east coast.
Shipping companies have billions invested in fleets that were built to last decades. Now, the US is calling for zero emissions by 2050, and the EU is raising the cost of fossil fuel use.
The Greens wanted Australia to rule out new coal and gas projects. Instead, we have a hard cap on emissions – and that should make many fossil fuel projects unviable
For the first time, Australia has moved to cap natural gas prices in a bid to stop energy price pain. Is the cap too high – or was it necessary to mollify the producers?
Peter Martin, Crawford School of Public Policy, Australian National University
Thanks one of the treasurer’s most trusted confidants, we can now piece together what the government’s likely to do next about rising energy bills. Here’s what I expect to see over the next month.
Peter Martin, Crawford School of Public Policy, Australian National University
Two-thirds of those surveyed back capped gas prices, an extra tax on gas exporters that would subsidise prices, or rules requiring Australian gas to be reserved for Australian use.