Australia’s environmental laws are broken. They are failing to protect nature and our iconic wildlife.
It has become crystal clear that the climate crisis is a driving force behind unprecedented environmental decline and species extinction.
Currently there is no requirement in law for new mines or big developments to be assessed for their climate impact before being given environmental approval. Our 'Climate Trigger' bill will change that.
Our bill will create a new class of a ‘controlled action’ under the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act where the pollution created by a project will be judged against a critical threshold for development.
Here’s more detail on what the bill will do:
- Any project that outputs between 25k-100k tonnes of emissions in a year would have to get approval from the Environment Minister
- Projects that output over 100k tonnes emissions would automatically be refused
- Requires the Climate Change Authority to develop a national carbon budget to 2050 to be updated annually so that any project approved will add up to a total emissions output.
- The Minister must also consider any potential impacts against the remaining carbon budget when developing bioregional plans, conservation agreements, and strategic assessments.
It’s crazy that in the midst of this climate crisis and environmental collapse that a new mine or development can get environmental approval without any consideration of climate pollution or damage.
Join our call to put a Climate Trigger in place to stop new coal and gas and protect our environment and our wildlife.
