Australian States Keep Pace with New National Climate Law

Australian states and businesses are moving in step with the country’s new climate policy, making their own leaps to decarbonization after a new climate change law pledged to slash the nation’s carbon emissions 43% by 2030.

“In a sign of the times, and the growing realization that coal generation has had its day,” Queensland, the Australian state with the “least amount of renewables and the heaviest dependence on coal in the country,” may be about to increase its renewables target, writes RenewEconomy founding editor Giles Parkinson.

“Even the country’s most notable coal grump, former energy minister and now Queensland Resources Council chief Ian MacFarlane, said the coal lobby he heads would support the transition to renewables, as long as the plan was clear,” he adds. MacFarlane said he would be “more than happy” if Queensland’s raised that target, “as long as they can maintain stability and prices for electricity,” Parkinson reports.

There would still be plenty of jobs for coal miners in the export market, MacFarlane added.

Despite a slow start to the 50% renewable energy target it set in 2015, Queensland now has plenty of new projects lined up for development, including solar and wind farms, hydropower facilities, and plans for a “a massive A$3-billion renewables hub,” says Parkinson.

These planned projects exceed the 10 gigawatts that Queensland needs to reach 50% renewable energy, and they “barely scratch the surface” of what’s to come, he adds.

“There are more than 21 gigawatts of large-scale wind and solar projects that could be built in the next 10 years,” Parkinson says, citing the Australian Energy Market Operator’s Integrated System Plan.

Australia recently set new climate targets through legislation supported by the Labor and Green parties and key crossbench senators. The law, the first piece of climate legislation the country has passed in more than a decade, calls for a 43% emissions reduction by 2030 en route to a net-zero target by 2050, the Guardian reports.

Not to be outdone by federal lawmakers, the state of New South Wales (NSW) is proposing its own draft legislation with a requirement to reduce emissions 50% by 2030. It will also become Australia’s first state to regulate carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases as pollutants, effectively establishing emission-cutting targets for industrial polluters and potentially creating “a template for broader national policies to combat climate change,” RenewEconomy says.

The proposed legislation sets up regulatory policies that ensure the state’s climate targets are met, said the NSW Environmental Protection Agency’s new CEO, Tony Chappel.

Chappel stressed the new policies are not a “one size fits all approach,” and that a key focus is to attain a robust economic outcome.

“We want businesses to be building resilience and climate adaptation,” he said.