Labor would establish a backdated credits regime for carbon sink forests, following up with rules to create credits from other green carbon and landfill gas activities, while the Coalition would use $400 million from Labor's CCS Flagship scheme to support mining exploration and emissions strategies that 'spread the risk'.
A wide-ranging Victorian Climate Change Bill unveiled this morning that gives the EPA sweeping new powers and introduces soil carbon rights will put the State 'well ahead of the rest of Australia', Premier John Brumby has told Parliament.
The Victorian Government will introduce a bill mandating that the State cut greenhouse gas emissions to 20% below 2000 levels by 2020, give its EPA new powers to regulate greenhouse gas emissions and create a green carbon offsets scheme, says its long-awaited climate change white paper.
Better feral pest management is a 'no-regrets' way to cut emissions, while further reducing land clearing and promoting regrowth on previously cleared land are cheap ways to deliver a large amount of abatement, says a Nous Group report that costs and quantifies five management options for 'outback carbon'.
Most carbon offset projects in Australia will be unable to reap any benefit from a national offsets standard that takes effect tomorrow, according to those involved in the offsets sector, but the Government says Senate blocking of the CPRS is to blame and it is "working towards" a domestic offsets program.
