Climate Change and Energy | Australian Greens

The climate crisis is negatively impacting all aspects of modern life, contributing to disruption of ecosystems, biodiversity and human societies through sea level rise, extreme weather events, desertification and changing weather patterns, and threatening food security, water, the economy, social cohesion and the well-being of humans and other living things. These impacts will escalate in the future.

The climate crisis requires us to seize the opportunity to transform Australia into a greenhouse gas-negative powerhouse that creates new jobs and a cleaner planet.

Principles

The Australian Greens believe that:

The impacts of the human-induced climate crisis pose an existential threat to ecosystems, biodiversity and human societies.
It is the duty of every government and organisation to take substantive action to solve the climate crisis.
Urgent, equitable and sustained local, national and global action is required to avoid climate catastrophe.
A safer climate will require a return to an atmospheric concentration of greenhouse gases equivalent to 350 parts per million of CO2, or lower.
Australia’s climate policy must be consistent with our commitment under the Paris Agreement to pursue efforts to limit the temperature increase to 1.5°C above pre-industrial levels.
As Australia has emitted and continues to emit a disproportionate amount of greenhouse gases, we have a greater responsibility to resettle and rehouse people and populations displaced by the climate crisis.
Australia urgently needs to phase out fossil fuels for export and domestic use.
A just transition for communities and workers affected by closure of fossil fuel based mining and electricity generation industries is essential.
Australia is a wealthy nation with extensive renewable energy resources that should be used to benefit all Australians; it has both the opportunity and the responsibility to become a world leader in addressing the climate crisis.
Australia's exports and domestic per capita pollution make it one of the largest contributors to the climate crisis. Australia must urgently reduce domestic greenhouse gas emissions to net negative. We must actively support international efforts to remove global emissions from the environment and plan to adapt to the impacts of the climate crisis which are now inevitable.
Many of the harshest impacts of the climate crisis disproportionately affect those already experiencing disadvantage. Solving the climate crisis and building a just society go hand in hand.
Climate action must include and respond to the specific experiences, knowledge, priorities and needs of First Nations Peoples.
Equity must be at the core of all climate change negotiations and measures while transitioning to an economy and society that supports a safer climate.
The climate crisis necessitates a rapid transition away from an economy reliant on unsustainable consumption and production to one that has net negative greenhouse gas emissions. The costs and benefits of transitioning to net negative emissions must be fairly distributed domestically and internationally, minimising the adverse impacts on communities and countries who are most affected and most disadvantaged.
In moving to a net negative greenhouse gas economy, it is essential to minimise the adverse impacts of that transition on communities that are most at risk and most disadvantaged.
Failing to transition to a net negative greenhouse gas future will have adverse impacts on people and society through:
1. mass death and suffering;
2. increasing and intensified extreme weather events and related environmental disasters;
3. increased risks to water resources, agriculture and food security;
4. the increased cost of adaptation and
5. lost or diminished economic opportunities by delaying the transition to renewables.
Australia has the capacity to ensure that all of our energy needs can be provided by renewable sources
A nationwide, systematic response is required to drastically reduce emissions from all sectors, draw down greenhouse gases, and be greenhouse gas neutral or negative by 2035.
Significant reductions in greenhouse gas emissions can be achieved by reducing waste and unnecessary production and consumption.
Energy prices should reflect the environmental, social, health and other external costs of its production and use.
Refurbishment of coal-fired power stations undermines climate action and cannot be justified.
Australia has a responsibility to assist other nations, particularly in the Asia-Pacific, to create safer climate economies and adapt to the climate crisis.
All energy infrastructure must be regulated by government, and large scale energy infrastructure and networks should be in public or community ownership.

Aims

The Australian Greens want:

Net zero or net negative Australian greenhouse gas emissions by 2035 or sooner.
A leading role for Australia in international negotiations of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, with the objective of progressing and enhancing the objectives of the Paris Agreement to keep global warming well below 2 degrees.
To rapidly progress implementation of the Paris Agreement and push to dramatically raise the ambitions of the major emitting countries.
To build public support for urgent action to achieve a safe climate.
Australia to use its scientific, diplomatic and economic influence to promote the development and deployment of non-polluting alternatives to fossil fuel based energy.
Fossil fuel subsidies to be removed, and investment in relevant climate change mitigation sectors should be increased.
An immediate end to the exploration of fossil fuels, and an orderly phase out of the extraction, consumption and export of fossil fuels to zero.
A just transition to a net negative greenhouse gas economy through a range of mechanisms including a plan to replace fossil fuels with renewable energy through strong regulatory intervention and a strong effective price on carbon.
A well-funded, comprehensive and research-based emissions reduction plan, with binding annual targets and national emissions limits, supported by reporting for all sectors with significant greenhouse emissions.
Reduce the overproduction and overconsumption of consumer goods that both depend upon fossil fuels and put unnecessary pressure on environmental resources.
A whole-of-government framework that addresses the climate crisis as a top priority responsibility of the federal government, and which ensures that:
1. all relevant legislation and regulations, from all levels of government, require that the climate crisis be considered;
2. justice, equality and democracy remain the guiding principles in government responses to the climate crisis;
3. the climate crisis is at the forefront of decisions made by governing and regulatory bodies for energy markets;
4. the climate crisis becomes central in all planning, decision and approval processes involving all levels of government.
5. all decisions and their rationale made by all levels of government that may have implications for the climate crisis are publicly reported.
A national system of energy efficiency targets, subsidies to help households and businesses achieve those targets, mandatory energy management systems for businesses, and stringent Minimum Energy Performance Standards.
Support for state and local government initiatives to encourage the reuse and recycling of building materials.
A government-supported shift to 100% renewables.
Public investment and ownership of a comprehensive system of transmission networks that can enable 100% renewable energy including community-owned microgrids.
100% of electricity used in Australia to come from renewable sources as soon as possible, by increasing the renewable energy target (RET) as well as measures such as public investment, feed-in tariffs and regulations to support a range of renewable energy generation, storage, transmission networks, efficiency, and export technologies.
The pricing of electricity and fossil fuels to reflect their true cost, including externalities such as their impacts on health, water resources, ecosystems, agricultural production, air pollution and climate crisis.
Exclusion of new in-stream utility-scale hydroelectric power stations and all electricity from burning native forests from the RET.
Reform of energy markets to remove the bias toward centralised fossil fuel-based generation, encourage demand management and the development of distributed generation, storage and transmission of renewable energy.
Improved regulations, monitoring and compliance for all existing gas operations, particularly in relation to methane emissions, impact on water resources, agricultural land and biodiversity.
Rapid rollout of smart technology, including meters, appliances, grids and energy storage, with measures to reduce the financial impact on people with low or fixed incomes.
To build capacity within our communities and industries to develop and expand local renewable energy, including through increasing community and public ownership of energy production and storage.
No new coal-fired power stations, gas mines or oil wells, and no expansions to any existing coal- or gas-fired power stations or mines, plus the development of programs to assist fossil fuel-dependent communities to make the transition to other more sustainable sources of economic prosperity.
Coal fired power stations should be decommissioned.
Thermal coal exports to be phased out by 2030 and all other fossil fuel exports to cease by 2040.
The adoption of the precautionary principle in relation to capturing carbon through geosequestration, by opposing public funding, and ensuring that companies are financially responsible for the risks and effects of greenhouse gas leakage.
Preservation of natural carbon sequestration in soils, forests and marine seagrass and kelp, swamps and mangrove beds, and funding to support restoration and growth of these natural carbon sinks.
To use the Government's vehicle fleet procurement policies to contribute to the elimination of greenhouse gas emissions, including through the use of zero emission vehicles, active transport and public transport.
Research, development and deployment of sustainable fuels which demonstrably reduce greenhouse gas emissions, and do not threaten biodiversity or food security.
Research, development and deployment of greenhouse gas neutral technologies for manufacturing and industry, particularly replacing the direct use of fossil fuels in industrial processes.
Research, development and deployment of mechanisms to significantly reduce greenhouse gas emissions from sea and air transport and ensure that international sea and air transport are accounted for under international commitments.
Research, development and the implementation of sustainable agricultural methods that reduce greenhouse gas emissions, while transitioning from industrial farming practices that are greenhouse gas intensive or rely on fossil fuels.
Research, development and deployment of processes that will allow Australian industry to convert renewable energy into an exportable resource.
The implementation of world leading vehicle fuel efficiency and emissions standards while transitioning to sustainable transport.
The development and expansion of robust distribution networks for sustainable alternative fuels and charging facilities for electric vehicles.
Corporations exporting fossil fuels to be required to include in their annual reports the quantities of greenhouse gases embodied in their exports, whether or not liability for those emissions is covered by the laws of the recipient country.
An Australian government investment policy that divests from all fossil fuel extraction and consumption.
A requirement that all large companies, resources companies, and the financial sector report their exposure to global warming risk using uniform standards developed by the Council of Financial Regulators.
The development of a mechanism to ensure that the embedded emissions in imported goods are calculated and reported, noting that Australia and other developed countries effectively export their emissions liability by importing goods rather than manufacturing them.
Engagement with the international community to ensure that international reporting of emissions includes imported emissions (not only emissions emanating from activities undertaken in each country), thereby providing a more accurate estimation of each country’s ecological footprint.
Stronger environmental laws and systems that prohibit further land clearing or logging native forests, or activities that reduce carbon storage or pose a threat to kelp forests and seagrass beds in order to protect natural carbon drawdown mechanisms.
Improved planning and adaptation mechanisms for coastal communities that will be affected by rising sea levels.
Improved climate adaptation planning for agricultural areas that will be impacted by climate variability, desertification, drought, extreme weather events and fires.
To promote agricultural, forestry and land use regimes in which photosynthetic sequestration of carbon dioxide exceeds its emission to the atmosphere.
The creation of a renewables export industry, including renewables-generated liquid fuels, direct connections to neighbouring countries and the export of technology.
To support reductions in greenhouse gas emissions from passenger aviation through measures such as investing in high speed rail, encouraging video conferencing and levies on private jets and business class travel and above.

(Climate Change and Energy policy as amended by National Conference June 2023)