Climate Change Act 2022 (Australia)

Last updated
Climate Change Act 2022
Parliament of Australia
  • An Act to set out Australia’s greenhouse gas emissions reduction targets, to provide for annual climate change statements, to confer advisory functions on the Climate Change Authority, and for related purposes
CitationNo. 37, 2022
Considered by Australian House of Representatives
Considered by Australian Senate
Assented to2022-09-13
Legislative history
First chamber: Australian House of Representatives
Bill titleClimate Change Bill 2022
Bill citation63/22
First reading 2022-07-27
Second reading 2022-08-04
Third reading 2022-08-04
Second chamber: Australian Senate
First reading2022-09-05
Second reading2022-09-08
Third reading2022-09-08
Status: In force

The Climate Change Act 2022 (No. 37) is an act of the Parliament of Australia which sets binding climate change targets.

Contents

History

The act was Australia's first federal climate legislation for a decade. [1]

Provisions

The act mandates that Australia reduce its greenhouse gas emissions by 43% by 2030. [2] The Climate Change Authority is mandated to recommend an emissions reduction target for 2035 and every five years from then on. [2] With a target for net zero emissions in 2050. [3]

The federal government must publish an annual report on its rogress towards meeting these goals. [4]

Implementation

In order to implement the legislation, the government also proposed requiring high-polluting sectors to reduce their emissions. [4]

The first annual statement made under the legislation was published on 1 December 2022. [5]

Reception

The vice chair of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change described it as a big improvement on the previous government's. [6] Gavan McFadzean, climate program manager of the Australian Conservation Foundation, supported the legislation and described it as "heartening" that Australian federal legislators were taking climate change "seriously". [7]

The Greens described it as a "small step" in tackling climate change and the Coalition described it as wrapping a "new layer of red tape" on the economy of Australia. [7]

References

  1. ↑ Morton, Adam (2022-09-08). "Australian parliament passes first climate change legislation in a decade". The Guardian. ISSN   0261-3077 . Retrieved 2025-05-05.
  2. 1 2 Jotzo, Frank (2022-09-07). "Labor's climate change bill is set to become law – but 3 important measures are missing". The Conversation. Archived from the original on 2023-09-21. Retrieved 2025-05-05.
  3. ↑ Hamilton, Ethan (2023-12-12). "Cleaning up the Climate Change Act". Law Society Journal. Archived from the original on 2025-02-07. Retrieved 2025-05-05.
  4. 1 2 Hegarty, Nicole (2022-09-08). "Federal government's climate bill clears final hurdle, becomes law". ABC News. Archived from the original on 2023-06-14. Retrieved 2025-05-05.
  5. ↑ "Australia's first Annual Climate Change Statement". Department of Climate Change, Energy, the Environment and Water. 2022-12-01. Archived from the original on 2023-03-25. Retrieved 2025-05-05.
  6. ↑ "Australia sets new climate target in landmark bill". BBC News. 2022-09-08. Archived from the original on 2022-09-24. Retrieved 2025-05-05.
  7. 1 2 Morton, Adam (2022-09-08). "Australian parliament passes first climate change legislation in a decade". The Guardian. ISSN   0261-3077. Archived from the original on 2023-01-06. Retrieved 2025-05-05.
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