Australia Steps Up New Initiatives Towards Net Zero By 2050

In a significant break from the previous administration, the Australian federal government has proposed legislation that will secure Australia’s pledge to reach net zero by 2050 as well as provide greater monitoring and accountability over climate change progress.

The Climate Change Bill 2022, as it is known, consists of four essential provisions that the MPs hope would propel a nation that is frequently accused of being slow to act on climate change into a position of climate leadership.

The country’s Clean Energy Council at the time referred to Australia’s previous Conservative administration’s decision to reject codifying a net zero 2050 aim as “disappointing” and “unambitious” despite its commitment to the goal. However, now, with the support of the country’s Green Party, the nation is likely to approve new legislation under the recently elected Labor government that will obligate it to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 43 percent below 2005 levels by 2030 before achieving net zero by 2050.

Chris Bowen, Australia’s minister for the recently established department of Climate Change and Energy, asserted that the legislation would strengthen Australia’s position internationally and send clear messages to the energy sector about the goals of the new administration.

Importantly, the Bill makes it part of the objectives of important government organisations like ARENA, the Clean Energy Finance Corporation (CEFC), and Infrastructure Australia. As a result, future governments will find it far more difficult to amend or eliminate the targets.

Adam Bandt, the leader of the Australian Green Party, Tweeted that his party had “secured changes to Labor’s weak climate legislation and will vote to pass it.” However, he added that he was disappointed in the administration’s support for new coal and gas projects and vowed to oppose any rise in fossil fuel investments.

Following the news, Australia’s ranking on the Climate Action Tracker was downgraded from “very insufficient” to just “insufficient,” a classification shared by many other industrialised countries. However, the domestic goal was increased to “nearly sufficient”.

“The incoming administration has the chance to step up climate action in the vital years leading up to 2030. The Albanese government must stop supporting new fossil fuel projects, which will increase emissions rather than decrease them, to do this”, according to the climate monitoring organisation.

A separate section of the bill mandates that the minister for climate change submit annual reports to the country’s Parliament on progress toward the targets, as well as requiring the independent Climate Change Authority of the nation to offer advice and updates on Australia’s progress against those newly strengthened targets.

After the COP26, almost every country is actively working to either draft a national plan for achieving Net Zero or has started working on it. India is working actively towards the Net Zero roadmap by 2070. The Net Zero for the earth can only be achieved by cross-border collaboration. A lot of private investments are being done for future projects in this process.

The Government of India is also bringing Energy Conservation Amendment Act which is focusing residential societies and corporate buildings. This new amendment will ensure that any building or a residential society where the power consumption is more than 100kw will have to procure the power from non-fossil fuels. The primary objective of this act is to promote the adoption of green and energy-efficient buildings.