The business group representing mining, retail, manufacturing, banking and energy officials has officially endorsed climate change legislation proposed by independent MP Zali Steggall, saying Australia needs to set a net-zero emissions target by 2050 and set a way to get there.
The Business Council of Australia used a parliamentary motion to state that Steggall’s plan proposes a “science-based, risk-management” approach based on how businesses and their shareholders respond to climate change.
Steggal’s Private Member Bill
Steggall’s private member bill, announced last February saw many delays due to Covid-19, and now the focus of a parliamentary inquiry, sets a target of 2050 net-zero and will require the government to lay down rolling emissions budget to meet it.
It will also introduce risk assessment programs and adaptation mechanisms, establish an independent commission for climate change and submit a government roadmap for investment.
The business council’s submission, signed by chief executive officer Jennifer Westacott, said it supported a “strong action” on climate change, which needed to “set a national zero emissions target by 2050 and, clearly, set out how to achieve this goal”.
“The high-level policy framework outlined in this proposed legislation represents the first significant step in developing a clearly defined, nationally-directed climate policy response,” Westacott wrote.
She said a clearly articulated climate policy destination and a pathway to get there would be good for the community as it would lead to new job opportunities, greater economic resilience in regional Australia, a stronger competitive position internationally and sustained growth in productivity and real incomes.
Net-Zero Emissions
More than 100 countries have set carbon neutrality or net-zero emissions target, but the Morrison government continues to resist the deadline.
It says it expects the country to reach a goal in the second half of the century and wants to get there “as fast as it can”. But emissions reduction minister Angus Taylor told ABC in November reaching net zero by 2050 would require a 43% reduction (compared to 2005) by 2030 and “that will destroy jobs, that will require taxes, that will impose costs on Australian energy consumers and raise the price of electricity”.
The government is expected to face more pressure to change its position and set more commitments by 2030 ahead of the next major climate summit in Glasgow in November.
International Cooperation And Commitment
The new US president, Joe Biden, has promised to use “all US foreign policy tools to pressure the world” to do more. His envoy, John Kerry, last week said all countries should increase their prominence ahead of the Glasgow conference “otherwise we will all fail”. “Failure is not an option,” he said.
Kerry and Taylor spoke this week, reportedly agreeing on “the need to improve international cooperation in R&D technology to reduce the cost of new technology”.
Steggall’s legislation is backed by several other crossbenchers and the Greens. Labor is yet to make its position clear beyond saying it welcomed “any constructive action” on climate and would continue to engage with the independent, who won the Sydney seat of Warringah from the former prime minister Tony Abbott in 2019.
The government’s opposition to the bill makes it unlikely that it will be debated in parliament, but the bill has garnered the support of more than 100 business people and organizations including the Australian Industry Group, the Australian Medical Association, the Council of Small Business Organizations, Unilever, Tesla and Origin Energy.
The business council’s statement said there were issues in the billthat it believed needed to be “carefully interpreted” if they were to comply with a “efficient, and affordable climate policy.” It includes not emphasizing “sector policies” – taking a different approach, for example, electricity, industry and transport – in a way that minimizes policies that can be applied consistently across the economy.
In another submission posted online this week, the Law Council of Australia said it did not formally endorse Steggall’s legislation as more needed to be done to acknowledge the multigenerational impact of climate change, but if the bill was amended it had “the potential to transform Australia’s approach to combatting climate change and its impact on our environment and society”.
Steggall said the presentations showed that there is widespread support for a sensible climate plan as the world looks at zero emissions. “Dragging this and delaying significant reductions in emissions will be more costly and will increase the risk to our communities,” she said.
