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Australia’s Climate Change Policy released
“Australia’s Climate Change Policy - our economy, our environment, our future” presents the Government's proposed "cap and trade" emissions trading system that is planned to be operational by 2011. Forestry receives many mentions. The most prominent:
“The Australian Government will introduce an emissions trading scheme, no later than 2012, as the primary mechanism for achieving the long term emissions reduction goal. A well-designed emissions trading scheme will help to reduce emissions at least economic cost. As a mechanism to establish and appropriately manage a forward price for greenhouse gas emissions, trading will reduce uncertainty, improve the investment environment, and strengthen the incentives for low emissions technology development and deployment. It will also encourage new economic opportunities in low emissions technologies, energy efficiency and through carbon offsets such as forest plantations.”
The cost advantages of offsets relative to technical solutions also gains a mention:
“Offsets play a potentially important role in an emissions trading system, in particular for the agriculture and land-based sectors. At the global level, the recognition of offsets created in developing countries can be an effective way of promoting their involvement. Domestically, offsets can reduce the cost of meeting any given emissions constraint.”
“Improving technology and capacity in agriculture and land use. Reductions in greenhouse gas emissions from land systems (land clearing, forest and vegetation plantings, and agricultural production) are contributing significantly to Australia meeting its 108 per cent emissions target. These are underpinned by Australia’s capability in measuring emissions and carbon sinks through its national inventory system. Commercial forestry plantations and carbon sink forests are given concessional taxation treatment. The Government will continue to:
• strengthen Australia’s ability to measure emissions from agriculture and land use;
• improve international and national accounting methodologies in areas such as harvested wood products and avoided deforestation; and
• advance research, development and analysis on new technologies and land management strategies.”
Our interpretation here is the need to be able to measure emissions and offsets (ie wood products in service and (not mentioned) changes in soil carbon, for example).
While the policy incorporates credit for early action, it does not spell out how this will work.
“The Government will move early to establish the information base on which free permits will be allocated, and establish approaches to ensure abatement actions in the lead up to emissions trading do not disadvantage firms in allocating permits.”
Office of the Renewable Energy Regulator
Download the Renewable Energy (Electricity) Act.
The Office of the Renewable Energy Regulator is a statutory authority established to oversee the implementation of the Government's mandatory renewable energy target.
Bioenergy Australia is a group of 48 Australian government and private sector organisations formed to promote the development of biomass energy in Australia. Includes newsletters, reports and a comprehensive list of links for biomass information.
National Carbon Accounting System
The overall aim of the NCAS is:
"To provide a complete accounting and forecasting capability for human-induced sources and sinks of greenhouse gas emissions from Australian land-based systems for developing an optimum greenhouse policy response to requirements of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change and its instruments."
Contains some useful publications on carbon accounting.
The Rural Industries Research and Development Corporation (RIRDC) is a statutory Corporation formed in July 1990 under the Primary Industries and Energy Research and Development (PIERD) Act 1989.