ESG Snapshot: Issue 65

This week's highlights include:

• Sustainable procurement. The federal government is consulting on how to extend its environmentally sustainable procurement policy.
• New nature coalition. Companies including Qantas, Wesfarmers and Bega have formed a new nature alliance.
• Going nuclear. A new parliamentary inquiry into nuclear energy will report before the next federal election.
• Trojan horse. Shadow climate minister Ted O'Brien says the government's Guarantee of Origin bills are a potential "Trojan horse" for a carbon price.
• First of its kind. Seven NSW landholders will receive Biodiversity Conservation Trust payments for protecting vegetation, and ACCUs for new plantings.
• Water review. The SA government is reviewing the state's water policy.
• Oil and gas decommissioning. The WA government has green-lit a facility that will reprocess pipes from decommissioned oil, gas and industrial projects.
• Fossil revenue to nature. The prestigious Katoomba Group think tank says fossil fuel companies should pay a major share of their revenues into funds that restore nature.

ESG Snapshot - powered by the Business Council for Sustainable Development Australia and curated by Earthed.

The federal government has instigated a House select committee inquiry into nuclear energy, which will report no later than 30 April next year. The inquiry will consider matters including deployment timeframes and costs.

Shadow climate change minister Ted O'Brien has unsuccessfully sought to have the government's Guarantee of Origin bills referred to the House economics committee.

O'Brien later told the House that the bills risk "being a Trojan horse for a broader economy-wide carbon price", and show "a clear bias" against hydro in favour of wind and solar.

Consultation opportunity - carbon market infrastructure. The Clean Energy Regulator is seeking feedback on its proposed exchange trading model for ACCUs, and its proposed new units and certificates registry.

The Regulator is also seeking views on broader measures to facilitate liquid and transparent carbon markets. Comments are due by 22 November.

Consultation opportunity - environmentally sustainable procurement. DCCEEW has released discussion papers on a proposed expansion of the federal environmentally sustainable procurement policy.

From mid-2025, the policy will also apply to furniture, fittings and equipment, textiles, and ICT goods.

In a move welcomed by the federal government, more than 20 companies and organisations have co-founded Nature Positive Matters, which aims to support business uptake of nature-related reporting and data collection, and pilot programs that are good for nature.

Founding members include the Aboriginal Carbon Foundation, Accounting for Nature, Australian Agricultural Company (AACo), the Australian Climate and Biodiversity Foundation, Bega Group, Brambles, Climateworks, GPT Group, Iberdrola, Lion Group, New Forests, Qantas, and Wesfarmers.

Virescent Ventures, which was spun out of the CEFC in 2022, has announced the $100 million first close of its new climate technology fund (Fund II).

The CEFC is a cornerstone investor in Fund II, and Virescent Ventures manages a portfolio of CEFC investments in specialist early-stage climate tech on the CEFC's behalf.

Grant opportunity - long-rotation plantations. The federal government is inviting applications for grants under the third round of a $74 million program to support the establishment of new long-rotation softwood and hardwood plantations.

The government will provide up to $2,000 per hectare of new long-rotation plantation forest established. Applications close on 5 November next year. 

Leading Pacific Islands researcher, Salā Dr George Carter, has been appointed to the scientific council that will advise the COP29 Presidency in Azerbaijan.

Dr Carter's appointment "signals the rising prominence of Pacific voices in the global climate discourse, particularly in advocating for small island states most vulnerable to the impacts of climate change", said an Australian National University statement.

VicGrid has made an EPBC referral for the 2GW Gippsland offshore wind transmission project.

The project encompasses the construction of an overhead transmission line from an onshore connection hub to a proposed grid connection substation near the Loy Yang Power Station, in the Latrobe Valley.

Liberal Senator Richard Colbeck has introduced a private member's Bill, the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Amendment (Reconsideration of Decisions) Bill 2024.

The Bill would limit the length of time during which it is permissible for the Minister to reconsider an EPBC Act decision. The Senate has referred the Bill for inquiry, with a report due by 14 November.

A House of Representatives inquiry into electric vehicles held a hearing on Friday and will hold another this Thursday.

The federal government has granted EPBC approval to Lightsource BP's proposed 450MW Goulburn River solar farm and battery system near Merriwa, in NSW's Central-West Orana REZ.

Meanwhile, Vena Energy Services has withdrawn its referral for surveys for the 2GW Blue Marlin offshore wind project, off Victoria's Gippsland coast.

Highlights from the Global Nature Positive summit in Sydney (click to open):

• The Katoomba Group, which aims to mobilise public funding and private capital to conserve and restore nature, has called for Australia and other fossil fuel producers to ensure fossil fuel companies pay a major share of their revenues into sovereign funds, "with the proceeds used to protect, enhance and restore nature". According to the Group, precedents for such an approach the Alaska Permanent Fund and the Land and Water Conservation fund in the US, and Norway’s sovereign wealth fund.
• The federal government has signed off a 310,000 km2 expansion of the sub-Antarctic Heard and McDonald Islands Marine Park, with Environment Minister Tanya Plibersek saying the move meant Australia was protecting more ocean than any other country on earth. "The decision means that for the first time ever more than half (52%) of Australia’s oceans are now under protection, blitzing a 30 per cent target the Government signed up to as part of a UN nature treaty in 2022," Plibersek said.
• The federal government is also proposing to strengthen protections for 73,000 square kilometres of seas off the coast of Victoria, South Australia and Tasmania.
• Meeting Australia's Kunming-Montreal 30 by 30 target for land is going to be challenging, Minister Plibersek said, while launching the National 30 By 30 Roadmap that will coordinate national action to achieve the land target. 

The Australian Alliance for Energy Productivity has released a recording of a recent webinar for businesses on maximising the return on investment from batteries and solar.

WWF Australia has released a Blueprint for Australian oceans leadership.

Open consultations:

• Hazardous chemicals. DCCEEW has released proposed IChEMS standards on internationally recognised chemicals of concern and lower-concern chemicals, and proposed variations to existing standards. Comments are due by 25 October.
• Minimising packaging waste. DCCEEW has released a consultation paper on reforming packaging regulation, with comments due by 28 October.
• Earning biodiversity certificates. The federal government's advisory Nature Repair Committee has released its proposed inaugural method for earning biodiversity certificates under the Nature Repair Act 2023, and a proposed biodiversity assessment instrument.Comments are due by 30 October.
• PFAS. Submissions to a Senate select committee inquiry into PFAS are due by 19 December.

Award opportunity. Nominations are now being accepted for the 36th annual Banksia sustainability awards. Entries must be submitted by 6 December.

Consultation opportunity - coastal management. The state government has released a draft of a new Coastal Management Plan. Comments are due by 27 November.

A parliamentary inquiry into the state government's biodiversity offsets scheme reform Bill has released its final report.

The committee's only recommendation is that the Bill be debated, and that concerns raised during the inquiry "be addressed during debate in the House".

The report notes that, overall, most stakeholders supported the intentions of the Bill.

The state government has released updated projections of reductions in greenhouse gas emissions over coming years.

The projections are based on two abatement scenarios - one in which programs provide the abatement they are designed to deliver, and another based on the abatement they are currently tracking to deliver.

Under the scenario in which policies deliver the abatement they were designed to deliver, NSW remains on track to achieve its targets, reaching 50% below 2005 levels in 2030 and 70% below 2005 levels in 2035.

But the more cautious "currently tracking" scenario "indicates more work may be needed", according to the projections.

"Accounting for abatement uncertainty, NSW is projected to be 44% to 50% below 2005 levels by 2030 and 65% to 70% by 2035," according to the projections.

The state government has placed on exhibition a proposal by Edify for the 100MW Burroway solar farm and energy storage system, which would be located near Narromine and Dubbo in the Central-West and Orana renewable energy zone.

In what the state government terms a "first-of-its-kind initiative", seven landholders from the Murray-Riverina are now protecting, enhancing and extending patches of important native vegetation while generating Australian Carbon Credit Units (ACCUs) with restorative plantings.

Between them, the landholders are permanently 788 hectares of threatened native habitat under conservation agreements with the NSW Biodiversity Conservation Trust.

An additional 141 hectares has been registered with the Clean Energy Regulator to restore, connect and extend habitat through environmental plantings projects under the ACCU scheme.

Grant opportunity - waste reduction. Councils in the NSW waste levy area can apply for waste solutions grants of up to $200,000, while groups of two or more eligible councils can apply for up to $400,000. Applications close on 12 December.

Open consultations:

• Problematic plastics. Comments on an EPA draft action plan on plastics are due by 4 November.

The state government has signalled it will introduce legislation to extend its Victorian Energy Upgrades program, which supports household and business energy efficiency initiatives.

Currently, the scheme is due to expire in 2030, but the proposed Bill will extend it, as the state aims for net zero by 2045. The government recently initiated a two-year review of the VEU program.

Stage one of what will be the largest wind farm in the Southern Hemisphere has begun feeding into Victoria's electricity grid.

Once both stages are fully operational, TagEnergy's Golden Plains wind farm near Geelong will have a capacity of 1.3GW, supported by a 300MW battery.

As the 756MW stage one of the project starts generating power, Ikea has announced it has taken a 15% stake in the project's 577MW stage two, through its Ingka investment arm.

Ikea already has a 15% stake in the 756MW stage one of the project.

Last month, EnergyAustralia entered into a landmark 10-year renewable Power Purchase Agreement with TagEnergy to offtake 40% of Stage two's capacity.

Open consultations:

• Organic waste. The EPA is consulting on a proposed guideline for organic waste processing facilities. Comments are due by 25 October.

Consultation opportunity - water quality. The EPA is reviewing the state's Environment Protection (Water Quality) Policy, which dates from 2015.

The EPA says it is proposing "important changes", in particular to improve groundwater protection.

Approximately 70% of South Australian water use is for agriculture and 50% of that agricultural water is supplied from groundwater systems.

"Reliance on groundwater is only expected to rise in the future due to the impacts of climate change," says the review discussion paper.

Comments are due by 9 December.

Open consultations:

• Container deposits. Comments are due by 25 October on a draft Environment Protection (Beverage Container Deposit Scheme) Amendment Bill 2024.
• Waste to resources. The EPA has launched a review of the state's Environment Protection (Waste to Resources) Policy, which dates from 2010. Comments are due by 20 December.

The Department of Water and Environmental Regulation has issued an amendment to Tellus Holdings' licence for its Sandy Ridge permanent storage repository.

The amendment allows it to accept air pollution control residues from the Kwinana waste to energy plant.

Hayes Metals has been granted works approval to establish the first reprocessing facility in Western Australia for subsea flexible and rigid pipes.

Between 50,000 and 65,000 tonnes of pipes will be diverted from landfill each year and reprocessed into metals and plastics materials for on sale to a combination of foundries, domestic and export markets.

The facility will source feedstock from oil, gas and industrial decommissioning projects.

New listings are in blue.

A new article in Nature concludes emissions reduction efforts continue to be insufficient.

And so-called overshoot pathways that temporarily exceed a targeted global rise limit before drawing temperatures back down to safer levels have severe limitations, it says.

"We show that global and regional climate change and associated risks after an overshoot are different from a world that avoids it," the article says. 

In addition, "we cannot be confident that temperature decline after overshoot is achievable within the timescales expected today," it says. "Only rapid near-term emission reductions are effective in reducing climate risks."

Meanwhile, a new 2024 state of the climate report, published in BioScience, warns "we are on the brink of an irreversible climate disaster".

"Much of the very fabric of life on Earth is imperiled," the report warns.

In a lengthy leaders' statement, ASEAN has signed off on a joint statement to the UN COP29 climate talks and another to the upcoming CBD COP16 UN biodiversity talks, adopted a Declaration on Plastic Circularity.

WWF has released its latest Living Planet Report, which tracks the trendline in global wildlife populations.

The new report shows that since 1970 wildlife populations have declined by 73% on average.

NZ Climate Change Minister Simon Watts will co-chair negotiations on carbon markets at this year's UN COP29 climate conference, alongside Singapore's Minister for Sustainability and Environment, Grace Fu.

The two ministers will lead negotiations that aim to fully operationalise Article 6 of the Paris Agreement, which deals with international cooperation through market measures and other means.

Renewables are on course to meet almost half of global electricity demand by the end of this decade, says the International Energy Agency's Renewables 2024 report.

According to the report, China is set to account for almost 60% of all renewable capacity installed worldwide between now and 2030, based on current market trends and today's policy settings by governments. That would make China home to almost half of the world’s total renewable power capacity by the end of this decade, up from a share of a third in 2010. 

China accounts for 82% of all fuel-cell and electric trucks sold so far this year, says a new analysis from Bloomberg.

"That dominance looks likely to continue in the coming years, as zero-emission trucking has become the next big segment of focus for policymakers in the country."

The UK government has announced £21.7 billion of funding for carbon capture projects located in the East Coast Cluster and the HyNet cluster.

The government said the new carbon capture and CCUS enabled hydrogen projects will help remove over 8.5 million tonnes of carbon emissions each year.

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