Energy Ministers from every State and Territory have agreed to make emissions reduction a key objective in national energy law following changes proposed by the ACT.
Announcing the agreement, ACT Minister for Energy and Emissions Reduction, Shane Rattenbury said the National Electricity Objective (NEO) was fundamental to the rules that shape the electricity market.
“By making emissions reduction one of the key objectives in the NEO, we’ve empowered market bodies and other actors to make rules and regulatory decisions that facilitate an orderly transition to a 100 per cent renewable and zero emissions future,” Mr Rattenbury said.
“Despite the lack of support by the former Federal Energy Minister, last September it was agreed that the ACT would bring forward a paper proposing these changes to the NEO, prepared jointly with the Queensland Government and Queensland Energy Minister Mick de Brenni,” he said.
“The proposed changes were agreed unanimously.”
Mr Rattenbury said the changes were the first step in the new National Energy Transformation Partnership which would coordinate actions to respond to the challenges and manage and the transformation to a national net zero emissions energy sector.
“For the past decade, advocates and environmental organisations have been calling for these changes,” the Minister said.
“Thanks to their continued advocacy, emissions reduction will finally be prioritised in energy decisions, helping to deliver a cleaner and more responsible energy supply for the nation.”
