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Australia: From “No Regrets” to a Clean Energy Future?

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Climate Change and the Law

Part of the book series: Ius Gentium: Comparative Perspectives on Law and Justice ((IUSGENT,volume 21))

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Abstract

In September 2011 Australia passed the Clean Energy Act 2011 (Cth), a piece of legislation that will for the first time introduce a carbon price into the Australian economy. The passage of this Act marks a momentous step forward for Australia, a country that until now has been dominated by a domestic climate change policy of ‘no-regrets’. This Chapter explores the evolution of climate change policy in Australia from the late 1980s through to the passage of the Clean Energy Act 2011 (Cth).

Sharon Masher is a Professor in the Faculty of Law, University of Calgary and on Honorary Research Fellow in the Faculty of Law, University of Western Australia. David Hodgkinson is an Associate Professor in the Faculty of Law, University of Western Australia and Special Counsel with Clayton Utz, a national Australian law firm.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    Ross Garnaut, Garnaut Climate Change Review (Melbourne: Cambridge University Press, 2008), at xix.

  2. 2.

    Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, “Technical Summary” in: M.L. Parry et al. (eds), Climate Change 2007, Impacts, Adaptation and Vulnerability: Contribution of Working Group II to the Fourth Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2007), 25, at 50.

  3. 3.

    Garnaut, Garnaut Climate Change Review, supra, note 1, at 145.

  4. 4.

    Ibid., at 145–150.

  5. 5.

    Ibid., at 65, Table 3.2.

  6. 6.

    Ibid., at 153; Prime Ministerial Task Group on Emissions Trading, Report of the Task Group on Emissions Trading (Canberra: Commonwealth of Australia, 2007), at 20–22.

  7. 7.

    Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet, Energy White Paper, Securing Australia’s Energy Future (Canberra: Commonwealth of Australia, 2004), at 1.

  8. 8.

    Garnaut, Garnaut Climate Change Review, supra, note 1, at 158; Australian Bureau of Agriculture and Resource Economics, Energy in Australia 2010 (Canberra: Department of Resources, Energy and Tourism, 2010), at 12–13 and 21.

  9. 9.

    Clara Cuevas-Cubria and Damien Riwoe, Australian Energy: National and State Projections to 2029–2030 (Canberra: Australian Bureau of Agriculture and Resource Economics, 2006), at 27.

  10. 10.

    Australian Bureau of Agriculture and Resource Economics, Energy in Australia 2010, supra, note 8, at 2.

  11. 11.

    Ibid., at 2.

  12. 12.

    Department of Resources, Energy and Tourism, Draft Energy White Paper 2011 – Strengthening the Foundation for Australia’s Energy Future (Canberra: Commonwealth of Australia, 2011), at 82.

  13. 13.

    The Clean Energy Act 2011 (Cth) is the central piece of legislation in a legislative package, which also includes: the Clean Energy (Consequential Amendments) Act 2011 (Cth); the Climate Change Authority Act 2011 (Cth); and, the Clean Energy Regulator Act 2011 (Cth). For information about each of these pieces of legislation, available at: http://www.climatechange.gov.au/government/clean-energy-future/legislation.aspx (last accessed on 22 February 2012).

  14. 14.

    Roslyn Taplin, “International Cooperation on Climate Change and Australia’s Role”, 26 Australian Geographer (1995), 16, at 16; Matt McDonald, “Fair Weather Friend? Ethics and Australia’s Approach to Global Climate Change”, 51 Australian Journal of Politics and History (2005), 216, at 221.

  15. 15.

    Matt McDonald, “Fair Weather Friend? Ethics and Australia’s Approach to Global Climate Change”, 51 Australian Journal of Politics and History (2005), 216, at 221–222.

  16. 16.

    Ibid., at 221.

  17. 17.

    Ian Rowlands, “Explaining National Climate Change Policies”, 5 Global Environmental Change (1995), 235, at 245; see also, Paul Kay, Australia and Greenhouse Policy – A Chronology 1997–1999, Background Paper 4 (1997), available at: http://www.aph.gov.au/About_Parliament/Parliamentary_Departments/Parliamentary_Library/Publications_Archive/Background_Papers/bp9798/98bp04 (last accessed on 22 February, 2012).

  18. 18.

    Commonwealth of Australia, National Greenhouse Response Strategy (Canberra: Australian Government Public Service, 1992), at 12.

  19. 19.

    McDonald, “Fair Weather Friend?”, supra, note 15, at 222–223.

  20. 20.

    Ibid., at 223.

  21. 21.

    Brian Fisher, International Climate Change Policy Economic Implications for Australia (Canberra: Australian Bureau of Agricultural and Resource Economics, 1997); Rosemary Lyster, “Common but Differentiated? Australia’s Response to Global Climate Change”, 16 Georgetown International Environmental Law Review (2003–2004), 561, at 564.

  22. 22.

    Ibid., at 563–564.

  23. 23.

    Kyoto Protocol to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, Kyoto, 10 December 1997, in force 16 February 2005, 37 International Legal Materials (1998), 22, Art. 3(a) and Annex B.

  24. 24.

    Ibid., Art. 3.7.

  25. 25.

    Prime Minister John Howard, AM Radio Program, 19 December 1997.

  26. 26.

    Prime Minister John Howard, Hansard: Commonwealth Parliamentary Debates, 5 June 2002, at 3163; Prime Minister John Howard, Hansard: Commonwealth Parliamentary Debates, 26 May 2004.

  27. 27.

    Lyster, “Common but Differentiated?”, supra, note 21, at 573–577.

  28. 28.

    Andrew Macintosh, The National Greenhouse Accounts and Land Clearing: Do the numbers stack up? Research Paper No. 38 (2007), at 3.

  29. 29.

    Information about the New South Wales Greenhouse Gas Reduction Scheme, a baseline and credit scheme aimed at reducing the ghg emissions associated with the production and use of ­electricity is available at: http://www.greenhousegas.nsw.gov.au/ (last accessed on 22 February 2012).

  30. 30.

    National Emissions Trading Taskforce, “Possible Design for a National Greenhouse Gas Emissions Trading Scheme”, 2006, available at: http://www.climatechange.gov.au/en/government/initiatives/cprs/~/media/publications/cprs/nett-discussion-paper.ashx (last accessed on 22 February, 2012), at ii and 13.

  31. 31.

    Andrew Macintosh, “The Garnaut Review’s Targets and Trajectories: A Critique”, 26 Environmental and Planning Law Journal (2009), 88, at 88.

  32. 32.

    Prime Ministerial Task Group on Emissions Trading, Report of the Task Group, supra, note 6, at 8–9.

  33. 33.

    Warwick McKibbin, “The Prime Ministerial Task Group on Emissions Trading”, 14 Agenda (2007), 13, at 13.

  34. 34.

    Prime Minister John Howard, Speech Transcript, “Address to the Melbourne Press Club”, 2007, available at: www.pm.gov.au/media/Speech/2007/Speech24445.cfm (last accessed on 22 February 2012).

  35. 35.

    Hon. Kevin Rudd MP, Opening Remarks to the National Climate Change Summit, Parliament House, Canberra, 31 March 2007.

  36. 36.

    Garnaut, Garnaut Climate Change Review, supra, note 1, at xviii.

  37. 37.

    Ibid., at xviii–xvix.

  38. 38.

    The text of the original Carbon Pollution Reduction Scheme Bill 2009 (Cth), together with Explanatory memoranda, is available at: http://parlinfo.aph.gov.au/parlInfo/search/display/display.w3p;query=Id:legislation/billhome/R4127 (last accessed on 22 February, 2012).

  39. 39.

    Senator Penny Wong, Minister for Climate Change, Energy Efficiency and Water, A Carbon Pollution Reduction Scheme in the National Interest, Media Release, 29 November, 2009, ­available at: http://www.climatechange.gov.au/minister/previous/wong/2009/media-releases/November/mr20091124.aspx (last accessed on 22 February, 2012).

  40. 40.

    Senator Penny Wong, Minister for Climate Change, Energy Efficiency and Water, New Opposition Policy – No ETS and No Carbon Tax, Media Release, 3 December, 2009, available at: http://www.climatechange.gov.au/en/minister/previous/wong/2009/media-releases/December/mr20091203.aspx (last accessed on 22 February, 2012).

  41. 41.

    James Meadowcroft, Climate Change Governance, Policy Research Working Paper No. 4941 (Washington, DC: World Bank, 2009), at 4, available at: http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=1407959 (last accessed on 22 February 2012).

  42. 42.

    Commonwealth Government, Carbon Pollution Reduction Scheme: Australia’s Low Pollution Future (Canberra: Commonwealth Government, 2008), at 4-16–4-17.

  43. 43.

    Ibid., at 4-1.

  44. 44.

    Commonwealth of Australia, Commentary: Exposure Draft Carbon Pollution Reduction Scheme Bill 2009 (Canberra: Commonwealth Government, 2009), at 87–88.

  45. 45.

    Carbon Pollution Reduction Scheme Bill (Cth) 2009, cl 3(4)(a).

  46. 46.

    See for example: Climate Institute, “How will the CPRS carnival end?”, 2009, available at: http://www.climateinstitute.org.au/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=571:how-­will-the-cprs-carnival-end-&catid=112:blogs&Itemid=49 (last accessed on 22 February 2012).

  47. 47.

    Michael Power, “Emissions Trading in Australia: Markets, Law and Justice Under the CPRS”, 27 Environmental Planning and Law Journal (2010), at 131.

  48. 48.

    Standing Committee on Economics, Exposure Draft of the Legislation to Implement the Carbon Pollution Reduction Scheme (Canberra: Senate Printing Unit, 2009), at 44.

  49. 49.

    Garnaut, Garnaut Climate Change Review, supra, note 1, at 316.

  50. 50.

    Standing Committee on Economics, Exposure Draft, supra, note 48, at 42–48; Senate Select Committee on Fuel and Energy, Interim Report: The CPRS: Economic Cost without Environmental Benefit (Canberra: Senate Printing Unit, 2009), at 151–152; Select Committee on Climate Policy, Report (Canberra: Senate Printing Unit, 2009), at 77–78 and 81–86.

  51. 51.

    Standing Committee on Economics, Exposure Draft, supra, note 50, at 42–44 and 49; Select Committee on Climate Policy, Report, supra, note 50, at 78–79; and, Power, “Emission Trading in Australia”, supra, note 47, at 156.

  52. 52.

    RiskMetrics Group, Research Note: The Impact of Industry Assistance Measures under the CPRS (2009), at 6–7, available at: http://www.acfonline.org.au/sites/default/files/resources/RiskMetrics_CPRS_Industry_Assistance_May09.pdf (last accessed on 22 February, 2012).

  53. 53.

    John Daley and Tristan Edis, Restructuring the Australian Economy to Emit Less Carbon: Main Report (Victoria: Grattan Institute, 2010), at 11 and 14; and, Power, “Emissions Trading in Australia”, supra, note 47.

  54. 54.

    Daley and Edis, Restructuring the Australian Economy, supra, note 53, at 12–13.

  55. 55.

    Meadowcroft, Climate Change Governance, supra, note 41, at 35.

  56. 56.

    Tim Flannery and Nick Rowley, “Comment: Carbon Omissions”, The Monthly (2009), available at: http://www.themonthly.com.au/Tim-Flannery-Nick-Rowley (last accessed on 22 February, 2012).

  57. 57.

    Prime Minister of Australia, The Hon Julia Gillard MP, “Securing a clean energy future for Australia”, 10 July 2011, available at: http://www.pm.gov.au/press-office/securing-clean-energy-future-australia (last accessed on 24 February 2012).

  58. 58.

    Australian Government, Department of Climate Change and Energy Efficiency, “Carbon pricing”, available at: http://www.climatechange.gov.au/government/reduce/carbon-pricing.aspx (last accessed on 24 February 2012).

  59. 59.

    The Hon Greg Combet AM MP, Minister for Climate Change and Energy Efficiency, “Address to the AIGN/BCA Carbon Pricing Forum”, 23 March 2011, available at: http://www.climatechange.gov.au/minister/greg-combet/2011/major-speeches/March/sp20110323.aspx (last accessed on 25 February 2012).

  60. 60.

    Ibid.

  61. 61.

    Multi-Party Climate Change Committee, “MPCC Agreed Principles to Guide Development of a Carbon Price Mechanism”, 24 February 2011, available at: http://www.climatechange.gov.au/government/initiatives/~/media/publications/mpccc/mpccc-carbon-price-mechanism.pdf(last accessed on 20 March 2012).

  62. 62.

    Prime Minister, Minister for Climate Change and Energy Efficiency, “Climate Change Framework Announced”, 24 February 2011, available at: http://www.climatechange.gov.au/minister/greg-combet/2011/media-releases/February/mr20110224.aspx (last accessed on 25 February 2012).

  63. 63.

    Ibid.

  64. 64.

    Australian Government, Multi-Party Climate Change Committee, Clean Energy Agreement, 10 July 2011, available at: http://www.climatechange.gov.au/government/initiatives/~/media/publications/mpccc/mpccc_cleanenergy_agreement-pdf.pdf (last accessed on 25 February, 2012).

  65. 65.

    Australian Government, Securing a Clean Energy Future: The Australian Government’s Climate Change Plan (Canberra: Commonwealth of Australia, 2011), at xiii.

  66. 66.

    Ibid.

  67. 67.

    Clean Energy Act 2001 (Cth), supra, note 13, Long Title.

  68. 68.

    Ibid.

  69. 69.

    Ibid., Section 4.

  70. 70.

    Ibid., Part 3, Division 2.

  71. 71.

    United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, New York, 9 May 1992, in force 21 March 1994, 31 International Legal Materials (1992), 849.

  72. 72.

    Kyoto Protocol, supra, note 23.

  73. 73.

    Ibid., Section 3.

  74. 74.

    Australian Government, Securing a Clean Energy Future: The Australian Government’s Climate Change Plan, supra, note 65, at xii, xiii.

  75. 75.

    Clean Energy Act 2001 (Cth), supra, note 13, Part 4, Division 2.

  76. 76.

    Ibid., Part 6, Division 1.

  77. 77.

    Ibid., Part 8.

  78. 78.

    Ibid., Part 3, Division 6.

  79. 79.

    Carbon Credits (Carbon Farming Initiative) Act 2011 (Cth), Parts 2 and 3.

  80. 80.

    Clean Energy Act 2001 (Cth), supra, note 13, Section 125(7).

  81. 81.

    Ibid., Section 3.

  82. 82.

    Ibid.

  83. 83.

    See Decision 1/CMP.7, Outcome of the work of the Ad Hoc Working Group on Further Commitments for Annex I Parties under the Kyoto Protocol at its sixteenth session, FCCC/KP/CMP/2011/10/Add.1, 15 March 2011, para. 1.

  84. 84.

    Decision 1/CP.17, Establishment of an Ad Hoc Working Group on the Durban Platform for Enhanced Action, UN. Doc. FCCC/CP/2011/9/Add.1, 15 March 2012, para. 2.

  85. 85.

    Ibid., para. 4.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Faculty of Law, University of Calgary, 2500 University Drive, NW, Calgary, AB, Canada

    Sharon Mascher

  2. Faculty of Law, University of Western Australia, 35 Stirling Highway, WA, Crawley, Australia

    David Hodgkinson

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Correspondence to Sharon Mascher .

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  1. , Faculty of Law, University of Helsinki, Yliopistokatu 3, Helsinki, 00014, Finland

    Erkki J. Hollo

  2. 62 Zalongkou Street, Strovolos, 2027, Cyprus

    Kati Kulovesi

  3. Ecological Institute, Connecticut Ave. NW, Suite 300 1630, Washington D.C., 20009, District of Columbia, USA

    Michael Mehling

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Mascher, S., Hodgkinson, D. (2013). Australia: From “No Regrets” to a Clean Energy Future?. In: Hollo, E., Kulovesi, K., Mehling, M. (eds) Climate Change and the Law. Ius Gentium: Comparative Perspectives on Law and Justice, vol 21. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-007-5440-9_24

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