A new Grattan Institute report calls for an Industrial Transformation Future Fund with a start-up budget of $10 billion, as well as major changes to the Safeguard Mechanism.
The federal government's plan to introduce a special carbon credit for large emitters could readily evolve into a cap and trade scheme, according to Thomas Hodgson of sustainability consultancy Ndevr.
A plan to allow NGER reporters to voluntarily provide information on their emissions pledges and progress should extend to scope 3 emissions, according to AGL.
Australia's 215 largest emitters had scope 1 emissions totalling 143 million tonnes in FY20, and the federal Safeguard Mechanism required them to offset less than 0.001% of them.
Between them, 62 top emitters have won approval to increase their annual Safeguard Mechanism emission entitlements by more than 12 million tonnes, a Footprint analysis shows.
An increasing number of NGER reporters are making net-zero commitments, but many others – including some major energy, mining and waste companies – lack any emissions targets at all.
Chevron's Gorgon CCS project has delivered a significant cut in the company's greenhouse gas emissions, despite technical difficulties, while fellow LNG company Inpex has become a top-10 emitter.