From 40m agoKey events45m agoTargets set to end gender-based violence in Australia1h agoAlbanese under pressure over housing before national cabinet2h agoAustralia to sign climate deal with California2h agoWelcomeFilters BETAKey events (4)Australia (6)ABC RN (6)Chris Bowen (4)Lidia Thorpe (4)Greens (3)7m ago18.41 EDT
Yesterday, climate change minister Chris Bowen announced two rounds of consultation over whether Australia should follow the EU and impose green tariffs to avoid disadvantaging domestic companies.
Steel and cement would be the first two products to be considered.
My colleague Peter Hannam has all the details:
Australia may impose carbon tariffs on steel and cement imports from countries with lower climate goalsRead more
Speaking to ABC RN this morning, Bowen said:
Now that we have an industrial emissions reduction policy through the safeguard reforms, everybody sensible would agree it makes no sense to see carbon leakage.
He said it will be a complicated process that too the EU about six years to pull together.
I don’t want it to take that long, but it will take serious consultation. I’ve said that that consultation will occur in two rounds in terms of design and principles and that will report to government next year.
I’ve had a lot of conversations with steel and cement and aluminium industries about this for example. It’s very, very important.
Bowen couldn’t say when we could expect to see the tariffs actually implemented:
That will in part depend on the consultations… [but] when they’re ready.
13m ago18.34 EDT
Labor playing catch-up on renewable energy targets, Bowen says
When asked about claims that Australia is behind on its renewable targets, climate change minister Chris Bowen told ABC RN that Labor is playing catch-up:
We had 10 years of a government denying the problem, delaying, and we’re starting in 2022, which is not a great time to catch up [on targets] but it’s the best time available to us.
… It’s pretty fashionable in the column inches of a couple of newspapers in Australia at the moment to say our targets are too ambitious, that we won’t get to 82% renewables and therefore won’t get to 43% reductions. I don’t agree with that.
It is ambitious, but it’s also achievable [and] we have a good deal of work to do … that work is proceeding at a very rapid pace, but yes, we do have an enormous amount of catching up.
Updated at 18.36 EDT19m ago18.28 EDT
Chris Bowen provides more details on climate change deal with California
As my colleague Daniel Hurst reported this morning, Australia will today sign a deal with California and pledge to collaborate on “fighting climate change and protecting biodiversity”.
Climate change minister Chris Bowen appeared on ABC RN this morning to provide more details on the deal. He said it arose out of a meeting he had with California governor Gavin Newsom last year:
California and Australia actually share a lot in common.
They have about half of their…
2023-08-15 17:34:14
Post from www.theguardian.com
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