An independent review into the Territory’s climate change legislation has found that in its first 10 years in operation, the laws have enabled successful policy development and outcomes.
Releasing the Statutory Review of the Climate Change and Greenhouse Gas Reduction Act 2010 and the Territory’s response, Minister for Emissions Reduction, Shane Rattenbury said the Review was conducted by independent consultancy firm, Aither and made 12 recommendations to ensure the Act could meet Territory climate objectives and to increase transparency, accountability and evidence-based policy decisions.
Mr Rattenbury said the ACT had agreed to nine of the Review’s 12 recommendations, agreed in principle to one and noted two.
He said some of the agreed recommendations included prioritising the functions of the Minister to ensure the ACT met climate change and emissions reduction objectives; introducing new reporting requirements to track climate change and adaptation actions across Government Directorates; an annual Climate Change Council work plan; and considering the use of sector agreements to encourage community and private sector engagement in emissions reduction activities.
Mr Rattenbury said Government had already committed to the two noted recommendations which related to the Minister promoting the use of a social cost of carbon within Government and including the social cost of carbon in cost-benefit analysis of any policies or programs.
In its Review, Aither said the only section of the Act that had not been utilised effectively to date was the Sector agreements (Part 5).
“Although Sector agreements have not been used, that has not hindered the overall achievement of the objects of the Act to date,” Aither said.
“Beyond 2021, the Act remains broadly appropriate to meet the ACT’s climate objectives,” it said.
“However, meeting the future targets is likely to be considerably more challenging, given the types of actions that will be required – particularly at the individual and community level.”
Aither said there was some risk that the Act did not provide sufficient power, guidance and accountability for the Government to continue to meet its current targets.
The 40-page Review can be accessed at this PS News link and the Territory’s 10-page response at this link.
