ESG Snapshot: Issue 71

This week's highlights include:

• Biodiversity offsets overhaul. The NSW Parliament has passed a Bill that will overhaul and strengthen the state's biodiversity offsets scheme.
• Planning and climate. A NSW Parliamentary committee has recommended overhauling planning legislation so it pays more regard to climate change.
• Energy governance. The federal government has introduced a Bill to make the Australian Energy Regulator a stand-alone body.
• ACCU method remade. The federal government has amended and remade one of the ACCU scheme's landscape-based methods.
• Firming target. South Australia plans to introduce a Firm Energy Target scheme.
• Circular submissions. The Productivity Commission has released submissions made to its circularity review.
• Scientists ponder Beetaloo. The government's advisory scientific body on coal and gas has discussed the impacts of gas projects in the Beetaloo Basin.
• Shock waves. Teal independent MP Dr Monique Ryan has introduced a Bill that would ban seismic testing.
• New stewardship scheme. The ACCC has approved a voluntary product stewardship scheme for waste flooring.
• Clean energy bonds. A Nationals MP has introduced a Bill that would require wind and solar project developers to pay rehabilitation bonds.
• Inaugural CCS strategy. The WA government has released a strategy to develop a "world leading" carbon capture, use, and storage industry.
• COP29 outcomes. See international news.

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

Videos of side events held at Australia's COP29 pavilion are available here. They include events on hydrogen, electrification, jobs and skills, and climate finance.

Treasurer Jim Chalmers has convened the fourth annual Investor Roundtable, with a focus on new industries and energy, as well as housing.

Chalmers said the government will establish an Investor Council to better coordinate investment in national priorities. The Council will work closely with entities including ARENA, the CEFC, the Future Fund, and the Net Zero Economy Agency.

Treasurer Jim Chalmers has announced a new investment mandate for Australia's sovereign wealth fund, known as the Future Fund, and issued the fund with a Statement of Expectations.

"The independent Future Fund already plays a crucial role in our economy and the Government wants to make sure it can play an important role in the decades ahead," Chalmers said.

"The Fund's primary focus will remain on maximising its returns," he said. However, it will now also be required to consider Australia's national priorities - housing supply, the energy transition, and improved infrastructure.

The Fund's benchmark return rate will remain at between four and five per cent above CPI per annum over the long term, and there will be no change to its risk profile.

Statutory development - energy system governance. Assistant Climate Change Minister Josh Wilson has introduced the Competition and Consumer Amendment (Australian Energy Regulator Separation) Bill 2024.

The Bill would separate the Australian Energy Regulator (the AER) from the ACCC, establishing the AER as a non-corporate Commonwealth entity with operational control of its staff, resources and governance arrangements.

The federal government has approved a new version of the ACCU Scheme environmental plantings method, just in time for proponents to use it this planting season.

Initial submissions are now available to a Productivity Commission inquiry into the circular economy.

Coalition and Greens senators have united to pass a resolution disallowing the Recycling and Waste Reduction (Fees) Amendment (Export of Regulated Waste Material Fees and Other Measures) Rules 2024.

Australian companies are increasingly linking executive remuneration to climate transition efforts, according to a new study from the Investor Group on Climate Change and climate and nature investment and advisory firm Pollination.   

However, many attempts to do so are ineffective because they aren't linked to a climate transition strategy, the study concludes.

The federal government will contribute $50 million to the international Loss and Damage Fund that was instigated two years ago at COP27.

The Fund will help developing countries to respond to extreme weather, focusing on both the economic and non-economic impacts of climate change.

Other Fund contributors include Canada, Germany, the United Arab Emirates, the United States and the United Kingdom.

Australia, 24 other countries, and the EU launched a Call to Action at COP29 to end the construction of new coal power plants.

The signatories to the Call to Action announced their intention to put forward national climate plans that reflect no new unabated coal in their energy systems, and called on others to do the same. 

The ACCC has granted authorisation to ResiLoop Ltd to establish and operate a voluntary, industry-led product stewardship scheme that collects and recycles vinyl and linoleum flooring waste.

Approximately 60,000 tonnes of this kind of flooring waste is generated each year in Australia, with virtually all of it going to landfill. 

Statutory development - seismic testing. Independent MP Dr Monique Ryan has introduced a Bill that would prevent the issuing Special Prospecting Authorities for seismic testing.

"Seismic blasting is undertaken for three reasons," Dr Ryan said, when introducing the Abolition of Special Prospecting Authorities (Ocean Protection) Bill 2024.

"To find oil and gas under the seabed, to identify potential sites for carbon capture and storage, and to assess the effectiveness of any carbon capture and storage projects." 

Oil and gas developments produce harmful emissions, and CCS is "illusory" and "aquatic vandalism", she said.

Statutory development - clean energy bonds. Nationals MP Sam Birrell has introduced the Requiring Energy Infrastructure Providers to Obtain Rehabilitation Bonds Bill 2024. The private member's Bill would require wind and solar project developers to obtain rehabilitation bonds.

"Regional communities are bearing the brunt of the renewable energy rollout, and certainty is needed for the end-of-life rehabilitation of onshore wind and solar farms," Birrell said.

Statutory development - organic food. Nationals Senator Bridget McKenzie has introduced The National Organic Standards Bill 2024, a private member's Bill which would creates a legislative framework to support a National Organic Standard.

Speaking at the G20 summit, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese noted that Climate Change Minister Chris Bowen and his UK counterpart Ed Milliband would sign a Climate and Energy Partnership at COP29.

The PM also welcomed the launch of the India-Australia Renewable Energy Partnership.

"Our new partnership will boost two way investment in renewable energy projects like solar PV manufacturing, battery and mineral processing, green hydrogen and green iron," Albanese said.

"One of the key early projects under the partnership is the establishment next year of the India-Australia Rooftop Solar Academy," he said. "Australia will partner with India's Skill Council for Green Jobs and the private sector to train 2,000 young Indian technicians on solar PV."

Transcript is now available of a hearing convened by a Senate committee inquiry into PFAS.

A Senate committee inquiry into the Impact of Climate Risk on Insurance Premiums and Availability is due to report tomorrow.

Labor's Bill Shorten has described climate change as "unfinished business for the nation", in his valedictory speech to Parliament.

"Climate change is not a Labor issue or a Liberal issue or a Greens party issue or a teal issue," Shorten said. "It's the world we live in, and it's the country we pass on to our grandchildren. It concerns every Australian."

The federal government's advisory scientific body on unconventional gas and large coal mines spent its most recent meeting discussing its draft advice on the potential impacts of unconventional gas exploration in the Beetaloo Basin.

The Clean Energy Council has released a report on emissions reductions in Australia attributable to the uptake of renewables.

Since 2015, 40GW of new rooftop solar and large-scale renewable energy capacity has been deployed across Australia, the report notes.

This has resulted in emissions being 30% lower today than they would have otherwise been without the renewable energy investment since 2015.

The federal Coalition has released a report by Frontier Economics titled Developing a base case to assess the relative costs of nuclear power in the NEM.

Open consultations:

• The government's independent Emissions Reduction Assurance Committee (ERAC) is reviewing the ACCU Scheme's Alternative Waste Treatment method for earning carbon credits, with comments due by 2 December.
  
  ERAC is also seeking feedback by 26 November on a proposed variation to the wastewater ACCU method.
• The Carbon Leakage Review second consultation paper is now available with comments due by 3 December.
• Energy efficiency. DCCEEW is inviting views on a Regulation Impact Statement on a proposal to impose stricter GEMS energy efficiency requirements on distribution transformers. Comments are due by 6 December.
• Sustainability reporting. ASIC has released a draft regulatory guide on Australia's new sustainability reporting regime. Comments are due by 19 December.
• 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.

Edify Energy has lodged an EPBC referral for its proposed Pleystowe battery system, to be located near Mackay.

Statutory development - biodiversity offsets. The NSW Parliament has passed the Biodiversity Conservation Amendment (Biodiversity Offsets Scheme) Bill 2024.

The Bill overhauls the state's biodiversity offsets scheme, ensuring it transitions to a net positive biodiversity outcomes scheme.

The Bill passed after the government backed some of the amendments proposed by the Coalition and the Greens. The Coalition then supported the amended form of the Bill. However, the Greens unsuccessfully voted against it on the basis that the rejection of some of their amendments made the legislation unacceptable.

A Legislative Council committee has issued a report on the Planning system and the impact of climate change on the environment and communities.

The report makes 18 recommendations, and urges amendments to the Environmental Planning and Assessment Act 1979, which currently doesn't mention climate change.

Alternatively, it suggests the introduction of a state environmental planning policy to properly integrate climate change within the planning system.

The NSW Parliament's Research Service has released a report by Professor Penelope Crossley on Energy regulation in transition.

"Despite the significant changes associated with the energy transition, the cooperative energy laws that underpin the NEM have only been subject to piecemeal changes," the paper says.

"This has resulted in a complex legal, institutional and governance structure that is increasingly unworkable and not fit for purpose."

"A reformed legal framework that integrates these principles would enable the electricity sector to remain efficient and reliable while meeting consumer and industry needs in the face of rapid transformation," it says.

A video presentation by Professor Crossley is here.

The state government has awarded more than $1 million in new grants to several NSW universities through its Electrification & Energy Systems Network Seed Grant Scheme.

The grants of between $50,000 and $200,000 support early-stage projects that are working to resolve the technical, economic, social and environmental challenges of electrification technology.

The annual report of the NSW EPA is now available.

The State Electricity Commission will invest $370 million to build a renewable energy park near Horsham, with its first stage comprising a 119MW solar farm and an associated battery system. 

The SEC will also set up a community benefits fund that will invest $42,000 a year back into the local area during the project's construction, and a further $70,000 every year once the project is operational.

The Renewable Energy Park will come online in 2027.

Barwon Water has applied for a development licence and planning permit to establish a Regional Renewable Organics Network (RRON) anaerobic digestion facility at its Black Rock wastewater treatment plant.

The planned facility will annually process up to 40,000 tonnes of organic waste, local commercial and industrial organic waste, and biosolids, covering them into fertiliser, biogas, and biochar.

Edify Energy's 250MW Muskerry solar farm proposed for a site near Bendigo can proceed, after the federal government concluded that it was not an EPBC Act controlled action.

The state government has secured an agreement with ATCO Australia to contract GE Vernova to supply gas turbines capable of running on 100% hydrogen, for the planned Whyalla hydrogen power plant.

The agreement was signed on the sidelines of COP29 in Baku. Commissioning is expected in early 2026.

Premier Peter Malinauskas was in Baku for the COP, with the state government hoping that Adelaide will be the host city if COP31 is secured by Australia and Pacific neighbours.

The state government has signed a letter of intent to support a feasibility study by energy company Zero Petroleum that will explore the development of a low-carbon sustainable aviation fuel production facility in Whyalla.

Zero Petroleum, a producer of synthetic fuel, is exploring the opportunity for a commercial-scale production plant - Plant Zero.SA - to be located in South Australia’s Upper Spencer Gulf.

Adelaide Airport and Qantas will also be involved in the feasibility study.

Statutory development and consultation opportunity - firming capacity. The state government is consulting on a framework to ensure the state has sufficient long duration firm capacity.

Under the proposed framework, the state government will define a rolling five-year Firm Energy Target (FET).

To meet the FET, long duration firm capacity generators would annually
tender for contracts that underwrite a portion of their revenue through
a Firm Energy Reliability Mechanism (FERM). Comments are due by 20 December.

Open consultations:

• Water quality. The EPA is reviewing the state's Environment Protection (Water Quality) Policy, which dates from 2015. Comments are due by 9 December.
• 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 state government has released Western Australia's inaugural CCUS Action Plan, which aims to develop "a world leading CCUS industry" in the state.

"Although the gas sector is likely to be the main driver of CCUS in Western Australia in the short to medium term, in the long term, modelling indicates that the dominant use of the technology will be in other sectors," it says.

"CCUS will particularly have a role in other emissions-intensive, hard-to-abate industrial sectors, such as fertilisers, other chemicals, cement and lime, and iron and steel, as well as in low-carbon industries, such as hydrogen, ammonia, and synthetic fuel."

The state government has also announced $26 million in funding for two CCUS projects.

A $15 million grant will support the Australian Gas Infrastructure Group to develop an onshore transmission pipeline for an offshore multi-user CCS hub in the Pilbara. 

"The project will help transport CO2 from facilities on the Burrup into depleted gas fields, sequestering up to five million tonnes of carbon dioxide in its first phases," the state government said. 

Another $11 million grant will support Mitsui E&P Australia and Wesfarmers Chemicals, Energy & Fertilisers to develop the Cygnus CCS hub in the Mid West. The hub will initially store around 530 kilotonnes of carbon dioxide annually from the Waitsia Gas Plant and the Wesfarmers CSBP ammonia plant in Kwinana.

Meanwhile, the state government is also offering $4 million under the second round of its Carbon Innovation Grants Program, which aims to build the capacity of heavy industry to transition to net zero emissions by 2050. Applications close on 28 February.

Open consultations:

• Waste reporting. The Department of Water and Environmental Regulation is consulting on proposed changes to reporting requirements applying to liable waste and recycling operators. Comments are due by 31 January.

Open consultations:

• Draft Territory Coordinator legislation. The NT government is inviting comments by 17 January on draft legislation to establish the office of Territory Coordinator.

New listings are in blue.

After dramatic and chaotic final hours, COP29 has closed with a new finance goal to help countries protect their people and economies against climate disasters, and to help support their decarbonisation efforts.

The COP agreed to triple public and private finance to developing countries, from the previous goal of USD 100 billion annually, to "at least" USD 300 billion annually by 2035. The agreed amount is well below the amount that developing countries had sought.

Developed countries will be "taking the lead" in raising the finance, which will come "from a wide variety of sources, public and private, bilateral and multilateral, including alternative sources". 

However, in wording that targets economies including China, the final agreement "encourages" developing countries to contribute.

The COP29 and COP30 presidencies have also agreed to present a roadmap at COP30, on scaling up finance available to developing countries from all public and private sources, to USD 1.3 trillion per year by 2035.

UN Climate Change Executive Secretary Simon Stiell said at the closing segment of the COP that "it has been a difficult journey, but we've delivered a deal".

"This new finance goal is an insurance policy for humanity, amid worsening climate impacts hitting every country," Stiell said.

"But like any insurance policy – it only works – if premiums are paid in full, and on time. Promises must be kept, to protect billions of lives."

"This deal will keep the clean energy boom growing, helping all countries to share in its huge benefits: more jobs, stronger growth, cheaper and cleaner energy for all."

"COP29 also reached global agreement on carbon markets, after almost a decade of hard work, where several previous COPs were not able to get this done," Stiell said.

"No country got everything they wanted, and we leave Baku with a mountain of work to do," he added.

UNFCCC decision texts are here. A comprehensive Carbon Brief summary is here.

The IFRS Foundation has published a new comprehensive guide designed to help companies to identify and disclose material information about sustainability-related risks and opportunities.

The EU has passed a regulation establishing a certification framework for permanent carbon removals, carbon farming and carbon storage in products.

The UK has pledged £239 million at COP29 to tackle deforestation in countries including Colombia and Indonesia, "recognising the critical role of forests in those countries as carbon sinks that absorb more CO2 from the atmosphere annually than the UK and USA emit combined".  

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