This last week the Victorian government moved to enshrine 2035 and some intermediate emission reduction targets into legslation: the Climate Change and Energy Legislation Amendment (Renewable Energy and Storage Targets) Bill 2023. This is an important step and was forshadowed by the Climate change Minister Lily D’Ambrosio in November 2023.
The bill also proposes changes to the Planning and Environment Act 1987, introducing a new, explicit climate change objective in the planning framework and require planning authorities, typically local councils, to consider climate change, natural hazard risk and emissions when preparing or amending planning schemes. It was noted that nearly half of all of Victoria’s local councils have declared a climate change emergency.
So what are the changes:
- Bring forward from 2050 the long-term target for zero net emissions to 2045
- Interim emission targets of 28-33 per cent below 2005 levels by 2025; 45–50 per cent below 2005 levels by 2030; and 75-80 per cent below 2005 levels by 2035
- increase the VRET renewable energy target for 2030 to 65%,
- Set the new VRET renewable energy target of 95% for 2035
- Set new energy storage targets of at least 2.6 gigawatts (GW) of energy storage capacity by 2030 and at least 6.3 GW by 2035; and
- Set new offshore wind energy targets of at least 2 GW by 2032, 4 GW by 2035 and 9 GW by 2040.
- Update the the Planning and Environment Act 1987 to expressly require consideration of climate change during the preparation of planning schemes and amendments to planning schemes under the Act.
Keep in mind that the science says that to keep global warming below 1.5 degrees we need to do 74 per cent below 2005 levels by 2030. While ambitious, these targets are still less than what the science says is needed.
The Opposition Coalition parties have said they would not oppose this legislation, although moved a ‘reasoned amendment’ focused on energy security and cost of electricity, which was lost on a vote of the Assembly.
The Greens Ellen SANDELL (Melbourne) also offered amendments on ramping up the renewable energy targets to match the Federal Labor renewables target and on how net zero should be considered. The Net Zero amendment is important because it helps close fuzzy but very important carbon accounting loopholes based on offsetting emissions and Carbon capture and storage.
Ellen Sandell said on Net Zero:
net zero, is really important here – Victoria wants to get to net zero by 2045. But I want to point out that net zero is really not a well-defined term by most governments and companies who like to use it. It sounds great, but what does it actually mean? In Victoria, for example, like most other places, legislation allows the use of offsets to reach net zero. It also allows the use of technologies like carbon capture and storage (CCS), which are supposed to take carbon out of the atmosphere but are not proven, anywhere in the world, to reduce emissions at the scale which is needed. We have pumped millions in taxpayer funding to fossil fuel companies to try and figure out whether carbon capture and storage works.
and highlighted the need for guardrails on net zero:
If we do not define net zero, if we do not put some guardrails around it, there is nothing to stop current or future Victorian governments doing the same, because reducing emissions is hard. Across all different sectors – we have got agriculture, we have got cement, we have got transport, we have got stationary energy, we have got land use and forestry – there are many sectors that emit carbon emissions. It is hard to measure. It is hard to count. It is easy to have a little out clause to say, ‘Oh, we’ll just offset some of that. There you go, net zero. Everything will be okay.’ But the atmosphere does not work like that. The atmosphere does not look at our books and say, ‘How did you account for it?’ The atmosphere only knows the real emissions that were put into it, and that is what is driving global catastrophic climate change.
Offsets are frequently used to get to net zero. They are kind of a cheap and easy way for companies and governments to say they are getting to net zero, but not all offsets are the same. There has been some really good recent work that shows that most offsets are actually virtually worthless and they just allow governments and companies to keep emitting carbon pollution at will while the planet continues to become overheated.
She proposed an amendment to the bill on net zero:
which says that independent expert advice needs to be sought by the minister in deciding and defining what net zero actually means and that this advice must include an assessment of whether technologies like carbon capture and storage are actually going to realistically take carbon out of the atmosphere and whether any offsets proposed to be used will actually realistically and effectively reduce emissions.
The amendment “means, when setting ‘net zero’ targets, the government has to get independent expert advice on whether offsets and CCS will actually meaningfully reduce emissions or not. So it’s no longer just up to the Minister, and it has to be made public” said Ellen Sandell.
Sonya KILKENNY (Carrum – Minister for Planning, Minister for the Suburbs) (15:18): spoke on the Coalition’s past record:
I note the coalition’s reasoned amendment, and frankly it is mischief. It is really the coalition simply trying to hide their disdain for climate action behind this reasoned amendment. I must remind those here of the coalition’s really shameful record on climate action: they voted against the Climate Change Act 2017, they voted against our Victorian renewable energy target legislation, they voted to rip up our ban on fracking, and when last in government they scrapped Victoria’s emissions targets. They may well claim to now care about climate action, but I think their record speaks very clearly for itself.
Hansard 20 February 2024
So while it is positive the Coalition parties are not opposing these changes, they are still playing from the climate wars playbook. It is encouraging that Labor has accepted sensible amendments from the Greens that improves the Bill. The Climate and Energy Minister Lily D’Ambrosio has worked hard in her portfolio to reduce emissions and navigate these changes through the politics both in the Labor Party and State Parliament.
The Bill as amended has now gone to the Legislative Council where it has been read a second time, and debate adjourned for a week.
References:
Victoria Parliament Hansard, 20 February 2024, https://hansard.parliament.vic.gov.au/images/stories/daily-hansard/Assembly_2024/Legislative_Assembly_2024-02-20.pdf
Image from DEECA Climate action targets https://www.climatechange.vic.gov.au/climate-action-targets
Climate Action Merribek 