It’s time to end the free ride for Australia’s biggest polluters, with the Climate Council issuing a direct challenge to the country’s worst offenders to clean up their acts.
As the Labor Government draws up plans for reforming a regulation that’s supposed to be reducing pollution (known as the Safeguard Mechanism), the Climate Council has personally written to the CEOs of Australia’s 10 biggest industrial polluters – including Rio Tinto, Chevron, Woodside and Santos – asking for real cuts to their emissions every single year to 2030.
In Australia, just 10 companies account for more than half of all the harmful emissions produced under the Safeguard Mechanism, according to new analysis from the Australian Conservation Foundation.
Together, these companies have pumped out over 362 million tonnes of harmful pollution since the scheme started in 2016 – equivalent to the CO2 produced by more than 16 million Australians in a single year.
Climate Council CEO Amanda McKenzie said the Safeguard Mechanism was the most important climate policy you’ve probably never heard of, and it was time to call it what it really was: a Pollution Speed Limit on Australia’s biggest emitters.
McKenzie said: “The way the laws are currently set-up allows our biggest polluters to keep polluting as much as they like.
“If they happen to go over the very generous thresholds that are set, then they can buy some cheap offsets and carry on polluting.
“This has to change.
“Every one of these major corporate polluters publicly claims to be committed to reaching net zero.
“Those pledges to their shareholders, the financial markets and the Australian public mean nothing unless they are backed up with real cuts to emissions.
“We directly challenge the CEOs of these companies to publicly commit their firms to make real cuts to emissions each year to 2030 – not greenwashing with cuts only recorded on paper using dodgy offsets.
“We have a narrow window this decade to avoid the worst climate impacts. The only way to do this is to cut emissions, so the time for pollution-as-usual is over.
“Australian households, small businesses and other parts of our local economy are stepping up to get us towards net zero. It’s time for big polluters to start pulling their weight in this national transformation.”
To ensure the Safeguard Mechanism becomes a genuine lever for driving down Australia’s emissions, the upcoming redesign of this regulation must achieve three things:
- Australia’s biggest corporate polluters make absolute cuts to their emissions. This cannot be just another case of clever accounting that lets companies keep polluting as usual by hiding behind offsets.
- Australia’s biggest corporate polluters must pull their weight in reducing national emissions. Facilities within the scheme should reduce their emissions in line with the effort needed to reach Australia’s national emissions target.
- Australia’s biggest corporate polluters must start cutting emissions from day one. From 2023, when the new Safeguard Mechanism is in place, polluters should be subject to tough limits on how much they can emit. These limits should be lowered year on year to ensure Australia can reach or exceed its 2030 emissions reduction target.
Read the Climate Council’s full submission to the Australian Government on reforming the Safeguard Mechanism here and letter to polluters below:
We are writing to you as the leader of one of the 10 largest emitters currently operating within the Safeguard Mechanism.
Just 10 companies – yours among them – have emitted more than half of all harmful greenhouse gases regulated by the mechanism since its establishment. At over 362 million tonnes of pollution, your collective contribution to Australia’s domestic emissions is equivalent to that produced by 16 million Australians in a single year.
Reform of the Safeguard Mechanism is critical for Australia’s path to net zero. The Climate Council has been heartened by the support shown across the business sector to turn this into a genuine tool for emissions reduction, including from peak bodies like the Business Council of Australia.
In strengthening the Safeguard Mechanism, the benchmark for success will be achieving genuine, absolute emissions reduction. We therefore call on you to publicly commit your firm to making absolute cuts to emissions each year to 2030, so that firms regulated by the Safeguard Mechanism pull their weight in our national emissions reduction task.
Emissions abatement achieved on paper through the use of inexpensive, low integrity offsets will not deliver the rapid reduction we need now to prevent further, harmful climate change. We have a narrow window this decade to avoid the worst climate impacts, so the time for pollution-as-usual is over.
Your company has made a commitment to shareholders, financial markets and the Australian community to be carbon neutral by 2050 or sooner. We therefore urge you to back these commitments up by making real cuts to emissions, starting from 1 July 2023 when reformed Safeguard Mechanism settings are proposed to take effect.
Seeking special treatment and carve-outs through the reform process, or permission to keep polluting as usual while relying on questionable offsets, will rightly be viewed by the Australian community as an attempt to shirk your clear responsibility to address the climate crisis your company’s products have helped create.
Australia has already warmed by around 1.4°C and is suffering significant losses from accelerating climate change. Worse is on the way as extreme weather events – such as bushfires, floods, heatwaves and droughts – occur more often, and become more severe. The Australian community expects and deserves action at all levels – government, business and civil society alike – to address this climate crisis.
Your company has an opportunity to lead in driving the once-in-a-century transformation of our economy that is now required. Doing so would significantly bolster your social licence in Australia and ensure your company is set up for ongoing success in a zero emission future.
In contributing to the design of a reformed Safeguard Mechanism, we strongly urge you to take this positive path, instead of pursuing the well-trodden route of obstruction, delay and denial which has characterised the contribution of companies like yours towards climate policy for too long in Australia.
Take the first step by making a strong and public commitment to reduce your emissions in absolute terms each year to 2030, in line with the scale of effort needed from your firm now to see Australia meet and beat our newly-legislated emissions reduction target. The Australian community is watching.