As the spectre of climate change grows ever larger, perhaps especially in the minds of older Australians who are looking to leave the world in good shape for children and grandchildren, those who are seen as not doing enough in terms of harmful CO2 emissions are increasingly being called out.
That calling out has now reached a new level, with not-for-profit watchdog the Climate Council releasing a new report that names the nation’s 12 biggest fossil fuel polluters.
The report’s title does not mince words: Introducing the Dirty Dozen: Australia’s Filthiest Fossil Fuel Polluters. Likewise, the opening statement pulls no punches: “Fossil fuel corporations in Australia are feeding the climate crisis – threatening our future and destroying our environment – while raking in billions in profit and often paying little or no income tax.”
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With the tone set, the report goes on to name Australia’s ‘top’ 12 – the ‘dirty dozen’. There are some familiar names there, ones that most would expect to be on the list, names such Chevron Australia, BHP, Shell, Esso, Woodside and Santos.
Several lesser-known names, including ConocoPhillips, Inpex Holdings Australia and South 32, are also named in the ‘dirty dozen’. Glencore, Anglo American and Centennial Coak round out the list of 12.
Some companies that many might have expected to see on the list – gas giant AGL for instance – do not make the list. The reason is that AGL is one of several polluters that are not subject to what is known as the Safeguard Mechanism.
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The Safeguard Mechanism, which came into effect in 2016, is an Australian government policy that regulates industrial emissions. It is a set of rules that regulates the country’s 215 biggest polluters – including the ‘dirty dozen’ fossil fuel producers listed in the report.
Any facility that releases the equivalent of 100,000 tonnes of carbon dioxide (or the equivalent in other climate pollutants such as methane) into the atmosphere in a year is subject to the Safeguard Mechanism.
But there are some exceptions, including power stations, and AGL qualifies as one of those exceptions. This is despite the fact that, according to the report, AGL’s coal-fired power plants make it “Australia’s biggest polluter”.
The Climate Council report states that, between them, the 12 companies that do make the list produce just over 40 per cent of all emissions regulated by the Safeguard Mechanism. The report calls on these 12 fossil fuel giants to do more. “It is essential they start pulling their weight in the shared national effort to cut harmful emissions.”
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With the Albanese government soon to embark on reforms to the mechanism, the Climate Council says the importance of making sure the right reforms are made cannot be underestimated. “Australia cannot meet or improve on our legislated emissions reduction targets, and make real progress on tackling harmful climate change, if we do not get the Safeguard Mechanism reforms right.”
The legislation to update the Coalition-era Safeguard Mechanism would see emissions capped at 4.9 per cent a year for the 215 companies, with fines to apply to those that exceed that net amount, but critics say it will let the biggest polluters off the hook, allowing them to buy their way out of their responsibility to drive down the country’s carbon emissions.
The report highlights four key issues that it says the reforms must adequately address. These can be summarised as follows:
- a genuine reduction in emissions
- no more new coal, oil or gas
- a better effort from Australia’s largest polluters
- no ‘special deals’ for some sectors.
The Climate Council’s full report is available via download here.
Do you have concerns about fossil fuel emissions? Do you discuss climate change with younger members of your family? Why not share your thoughts in the comments section below?
In the 1980s we were assured that as a result of rising sea levels and melting ice caps caused by global warming the Maldives would be under water by 2000, closely followed by low-lying Pacific islands. A couple of decades after the predicted catastrophe the Maldives are still above water, the Pacific islands have grown. The predicted endless droughts were followed by endless floods and the polar ice caps are almost back to the highest levels recorded by satellite. (See daily photos by searching “Arctic Ice” on NSDIC site).
Isn’t it interesting to see those who lecture us on the need to must reduce our carbon footprint while they regularly travel to their conferences, not on scheduled flights, but on hundreds of private jets. These are they who, despite their assurances of imminent sea level rise, have bought multimillion dollar mansions sitting a few metres above sea level?
The moment any person or organisation (be they a quango, Government, UN or not-for profit) uses the term “climate crises” or “climate emergency” you know that they are not playing with a full deck. When viewed in totality, there has been no increase in either the numbers or the severity of extreme weather events around the planet over the past decades.
The Climate Council is peopled with activists who use pseudo science to create a scare campaign.
Australia is a minor contributor to “greenhouse” gases and whether Australia increases, holds the same levels, or decreases the emissions, it will make no measurable difference to climate trends around the planet.
On two separate metrics, Australia naturally absorbs more CO2 than is produced by human activity here. The naturally occurring flora in our National Parks, Nature and Forestry Reserves sequesters more than is emitted (this excludes the farmed areas that generally soak CO2 and the phyto-plankton floating in the 200km EEZ surrounding our coast line.
The second zone of absorption is that of limestone. Limestone naturally absorbs CO2 both when in the form of hardstone and also when broken down and dispersed in soil (UK farmers have now realised this and are using limestone as an additive to their soils). South Australia and Victoria have large areas of exposed limestone and areas of Queenslands’ Gulf Country are limestone rich soils.
The Climate Council is committed to a political agenda intended to close down many Australian industries to equalise our wealth across less wealthy countries.
The sensible thing to do is to laugh in their face and then ignore them.