The House of Representatives Standing Committee on the Environment and Energy yesterday called for submissions on the National Greenhouse and Energy Reporting Amendment (Transparency in Carbon Emissions Accounting) Bill 2020. The Bill was referred to the Committee by the House of Representatives on 27 February 2020 for inquiry and report.
The Bill, sponsored by Mr Andrew Wilkie MP (Member for Clark), seeks to amend the National Greenhouse and Energy Reporting Act 2007, to set a regular schedule for quarterly emissions reporting by the relevant Minister, and to capture scope 3 emissions in all reporting obligations. This would expand reporting to include emissions occurring in the wider economy, or internationally, as a consequence of the activities of a facility, from sources not owned or controlled by that facility’s business.
Chair of the Committee Mr Ted O’Brien MP noted that ‘if the Bill were to come into effect, we would effectively see emissions generated internationally from the use of our exported fossil fuels included in Australia’s national inventory of greenhouse gas emissions.’
If you would like to contribute to the inquiry, you can make a submission. Submissions to the inquiry will be accepted until 20 March 2020. The Committee intends to hold public hearings which will be announced in due course on the inquiry website.
Submissions must be relevant to the terms of the Bill. Details about the Bill and how to make a submission are available on the inquiry website.
For background information
House of Representatives Standing Committee on the Environment and Energy
(02) 6277 4580
environment.reps@aph.gov.au
Interested members of the public may wish to track the committee via its website. Click on the blue ‘Track Committee’ button in the bottom right hand corner and use the forms to login to My Parliament or to register for a My Parliament account.