What the Albanese government did on the environment amid the Liberals’ turmoil: threatened species, a new coal project and carbon leakage | Climate crisis
Stopping pollution leaking abroad
The government released him after waiting for a year. final report of investigation into carbon leakage. The review evaluated the potential risks of companies moving their industrial activities abroad due to Australia’s climate policies.
If this happens emissions could be reduced in Australia but this would do nothing to help the world reach net zero emissions. This would be self-defeating, given that the goal is to promote or incentivize emissions cuts everywhere.
The review, chaired by respected climate economist and Australian National University professor Frank Jotzo, found that carbon leakage is not an imminent risk in Australia, but that is likely to change as major industries are forced to reduce pollution or pay for contentious carbon offsets under a policy known as a safeguard mechanism.
The answer, he found, is a carbon border adjustment mechanism – or Cbam (pronunciation: see? bam!) – that would impose duties on imports of some products so that their users face the same carbon cost as Australian-made products. In other words, a carbon tariff.
The Jotzo review recommended that it be applied first to cement and clinker used to make cement, arguing that these are emissions-intensive products and that domestic production can be easily replaced by imports. It is recommended to consider it for lime, hydrogen, ammonia, glass, steel and iron.
There is already a Cbam in the EU, with the UK scheduled to follow next year. Taiwan, Canada and South Korea were also considering these.
Taylor was quick to criticize the idea, calling it a “carbon tax” and claiming it would increase cost-of-living pressures. This argument is only valid if you plan to eliminate policies to reduce climate pollution (the Coalition’s position at the last election) and reject the idea that industry needs to change to remain globally competitive.
Jotzo said Cbam could be used to help start new industries by effectively applying a “green premium” if local suppliers and importers face the same carbon cost.
Labour’s response was muted. Climate change and energy minister spokesman Chris Bowen said the government would “always support Australian industry to be competitive both at home and on the world stage”. Jotzo’s work will “inform discussions” during the upcoming review of the safeguard mechanism.
Why did the government dwell on the review for a year?
The answer may have something to do with Donald Trump threatening retaliatory tariffs in response to the EU Cbam.
Ruling that the Maugean skate is not critically endangered
Environment minister Murray Watt has rejected calls from conservationists to list the Maugean skate, an ancient ray-like species found only in Macquarie Harbor on Tasmania’s west coast, as a critically endangered species that is one step away from extinction.
Instead, it retained the current listing: Endangered. It has had this list since 2004.
This has been a controversial issue at the center of the debate over whether salmon farming in the harbour, the main threat to the stingrays’ survival, should continue.
In 2024, Guardian Australia revealed that the government’s threatened species scientific committee had advised that the number of adult skates remaining in the wild was “extremely low”. It has been suggested that salmon farms be either significantly reduced or eliminated and stingrays be “upgraded” to critically endangered.
The government has promised that there will be no new extinctions on its watch. It also strongly supports the salmon industry. Last year, it changed national environmental law to eliminate a legal challenge that could have halted farming in the port.
It was partly based on this A report by the Tasmanian Institute of Marine and Antarctic Research He said the latest assessment shows the skate population is likely back to 2014 levels. .
The government described the report as “the population appears to be recovering.” The report itself said skate numbers were still low and could be badly affected by a major environmental event, and underlined the need for ongoing monitoring.
Watt said the government was determined to ensure skating “does not disappear on its own” and his decision did not change the need for “critical actions” to protect it. He said he spent $37.5 million on the issue. He noted that the International Union for Conservation of Nature also maintains the endangered species list.
But conservationists criticized the situation, accusing the government of abandoning the precautionary principle and promoting corporate interests over environmental welfare.
Another green light for a coal project
Watt has approved the expansion of the Middlemount mine in Queensland’s Bowen Basin.
Environmentalists say coal could be shipped abroad and burned to produce steel or electricity, resulting in the release of about 236 million tonnes of carbon dioxide in the coming years. That’s just over half the amount Australia emits each year.
The decision brought about some unusual and controversial conditions for protecting the threatened large glider. You can read more about this here.
The government has approved 33 coal and gas developments or expansions since it was elected in 2022.
