Chapter 4 Climate Impacts and Responses

Responses to Climate Change > Emissions Reduction Strategies

Australian research into options for mitigating climate change is proceeding on a broad front, with investigations into reducing greenhouse gas emissions as well as research into the impacts of various domestic policy options.

Australia has developed a balanced mix of policy responses to reduce emissions – targeting industry, households, governments and communities. Australia is also currently developing a climate change forward agenda to cover the next 20-30 years.

Greenhouse Gas Abatement Program

The Greenhouse Gas Abatement Program (GGAP) is a major Australian Government initiative to assist Australia in meeting its Kyoto Protocol target. The objective of GGAP is to reduce Australia's net greenhouse gas emissions by supporting activities that are likely to result in substantial emission reductions or substantial sink enhancement, particularly in the first commitment period under the Kyoto Protocol (2008-12). $400 million has been allocated to the Program.

To date, approximately $165 million has been offered to successful proponents, to support projects with a total value of $836 million. These projects include a Regional Renewable Energy Project in the Douglas Shire; Efficient Calcination in Alumina Refining in Gladstone; Lignite Predrying using Mechanical Thermal Expression by Latrobe Valley generators; and CargoSprinter – a new concept in moving freight by rail in regional Victoria.

Renewable Energy

The Australian Government has made a strong commitment to increase the use of clean renewable energy in Australia. The following summary presents a selection of activities aimed at encouraging the uptake of renewable energy in Australia:

• World-first legislation that requires the generation of 9,500 gigawatt hours of extra renewable electricity per year by 2010, enough power to meet the residential electricity needs of four million people. This initiative is being achieved by establishing an innovative market in renewable energy certificates and is expected to deliver in excess of $2 billion of investment in renewable energy in Australia;
• The Photovoltaic Rebate Program enables households and community buildings to generate their own electricity from sunlight. To the end of December 2002, abatement of 4,700 tonnes of greenhouse gas abatement per year will result from the installation of 3,800 photovoltaic systems, totaling 4,000kW;
• Over $200 million has been made available through the Renewable Remote Power Generation Program to replace diesel with renewable power in Aboriginal communities, pastoral properties, remote towns, tourist and other locations. By the end of December 2002, funds have been used by remote communities to install 1,042kW of photovoltaics, 75kW of wind turbines and 17kW of micro-hyrdro and associated enabling equipment reducing greenhouse gas emissions by approx 7,000 tonnes per year. In addition, many major projects are under construction such as a 3.7 MW wind farm;
• Through its Renewable Energy Commercialisation Program, the Australian Government has supported 49 projects to commercialise innovative renewable energy equipment, technologies, systems and processes, with $6 million specifically dedicated to the development of the renewable energy industry.

Promoting Energy

Efficiency Commonwealth, State and Territory governments are working together to regulate the energy efficiency of equipment and many appliances used by Australian households and businesses. Recent achievements in this area include:

• Introducing Minimum Energy Performance Standards (MEPS) for six equipment types (refrigerators, freezers, electric water heaters, three phase packaged air conditioners, fluorescent lighting ballasts and electric motors);
• Updating the Mandatory Energy Rating Scheme for whitegoods for six major appliances (including refrigerators, freezers, washing machines, dryers, dishwashers and air conditioners) to allow for improvements in energy efficiency technologies;
• An agreement on a "model regulation" for national implementation;
• Development of MEPS for electricity distribution transformers, fluorescent lamps and revised MEPS for small electric storage type hot water heaters to be introduced in the next few years; and
• Development of labeling schemes for home entertainment systems, computers and other appliances.

In 1999, the Australian building and construction industry signed an historic agreement with the Australian Government to see energy efficiency measures introduced to the Building Code of Australia. To date, this agreement has resulted in the introduction of new standards of energy efficiency for residential buildings to the Building Code of Australia. These amendments came into force on 1 January 2003.

A joint initiative of the Government and the building and design industries has made a major contribution to the energy efficiency of buildings with the production of the "Your Home" consumer guide and technical manual. The guide has made substantive inroads towards informing consumers and industry professionals about energy efficient homes, with more than 100,000 copies distributed since late 2001.

Major emission reductions are expected from Australia’s fossil fuel electricity generation sector, with 14 companies signed up to the Government’s Generator Efficiency Standards (GES) program. Efficiency standards introduced for Australian power stations under this program are expected to cut about 4 million tonnes of carbon emission each year by 2010.

Local Government and Communities

Cities for Climate Protection™ (CCP™) Australia is the Australian Government’s primary mechanism for encouraging greenhouse gas abatement by local government in Australia. CCP™ Australia has 171 local governments representing over 66 per cent of Australia’s population committed to achieving sustainable, long-term reductions in their greenhouse gas emissions through their participation in CCP™ Australia. CCP™ is an international campaign of the International Council for Local Environmental Initiatives (ICLEI), which now has over 500 local government members in national campaigns running in 11 countries. Australia has around 30 per cent of total world participation, with the fastest growth and more councils at the final program milestone than any other international program.

Cool Communities is an AGO initiative delivered in partnership with non-government environment organisations from each State and Territory. It is an innovative program designed to reduce the creation of greenhouse gas emissions from the community. Twenty-two Cool Communities covering all States and Territories are receiving support from the Federal Government to actively and significantly reduce greenhouse gas emissions. The communities represent a diverse range of socioeconomic, geographic and cultural demographics. As a household behaviour change program operating at a national level with multiple communities, Cool Communities is a world first. It uses a social marketing approach to change behaviour, rather than relying on increasing householder awareness alone.

Sustainable Transport

The Government is working to increase the use of alternative fuels such as compressed natural gas (CNG) and liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) and to improve consumer awareness of the fuel efficiency of their motor vehicles. Key initiatives of the program include:

• a program to facilitate the uptake of CNG and LPG as an alternative to diesel in heavy vehicles such as buses and trucks;
• mandatory fuel consumption labels for all new cars sold in Australia introduced in 2001 and revised in 2002 to include all vehicles up to 3.5 tonnes. Carbon dioxide emission labeling is required on all new model vehicles from 1/7/03 and all new vehicles from 1/1/04;
• a fuel consumption guide that allows consumers to accurately compare the fuel efficiency of new passenger cars, four-wheel-drives and light commercial vehicles;
• agreement with industry to set national average fuel consumption targets for new passenger and light commercial vehicles; and
• development and implementation of a travel demand management program to provide smarter travel options for urban residents and reduce use of personal vehicles by complementing current state travel initiatives.

Agriculture, Forestry and the Land

The Commonwealth is working with all States and Territories through the Natural Resource Management Working Group on Greenhouse in Agriculture and Natural Resource Systems, established in 2002, to address greenhouse in the agricultural and natural resource sectors. Initial work program priorities for this Group include development of a National Plan for Greenhouse and Agriculture. This work will be supported by the 2001 agriculture sector workshops undertaken by the former Standing Committee on Agriculture and Resource Management, and the 2002 issues paper entitled Developing a Strategic Framework for Greenhouse and Agriculture, prepared by the AGO in consultation with the Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry.

In December 2002, the AGO supported a joint New Zealand / Australia workshop on research priorities for abatement of non- CO2 greenhouse gas emissions from agriculture.

The Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry has released a new kit to help foresters make more informed plantation management decisions concerning climate change. The Greenhouse Resource Kit for Private Forest Growers presents information on maximising carbon uptake, on carbon trading and on processes for independent verification. The kit, prepared by CSIRO, includes material on the economics of forest-based carbon sequestration projects, particularly in low-rainfall zones.

The viability of new forest plantations and on-farm forestry for timber production, the control of salinity and soil erosion, enhanced biodiversity, bioenergy production and carbon sequestration will depend partly on adequate planning for climate change and variability, control of fire and interactions with soil moisture and water supply. Considerable effort is being put towards providing advice and planning for such plantation projects.