Before ParliamentEnvironment & Energy Introduced in the Senate, 05 Sep 2022 by HANSON-YOUNG, Sen Sarah

Projects emitting 100,000 tonnes a year would be refused

Sarah Hanson-Young is a senator for the Greens party. Her Senate bill would add greenhouse gas to the things the federal Environment Minister must check. Greenhouse gases are the gases that cause climate change. Projects over 100,000 tonnes of these gases a year could not be approved at all.

Official name: Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Amendment (Climate Trigger) Bill 2022

Who it affects

• Companies planning big new mines, gas projects or factories: They would need federal approval if their project gives off 25,000 tonnes or more of greenhouse gas a year. Over 100,000 tonnes, they could not be approved.
• The federal Environment Minister: The Minister would have to check projects against a national carbon budget and Australia's climate targets.
• The Climate Change Authority: It would have to write a national carbon budget to 2050. It would check how much is left every year.
• State governments: Their approval deals with the federal government could not be used for these high-polluting projects.
• Bosses and landholders: Company bosses and landholders could be punished if a high-polluting project goes ahead without approval.

Nature law skips climate harm

Australia's main national law for protecting nature is the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999. Biodiversity means the variety of living things. Big projects that could harm certain important things must get approval from the federal Environment Minister.

The law lists nine of these important things. They include World Heritage places, which are listed by the United Nations as precious to the world. They include national heritage places. They include ocean areas run by the federal government. They also include water hurt by coal seam gas, which is gas drawn from coal underground, and large coal mines.

Greenhouse gas is not on that list. These are the gases that cause climate change. So a project is not checked under this law just because it gives off a lot of them.

Senator Sarah Hanson-Young brought this private bill to the Senate in September 2022. A private bill is one brought by an MP or senator who is not a minister. Her notes on the bill call the missing climate check a clear gap in the law. The bill would add what she calls a climate trigger.

The 25,000 tonne trigger

The bill would create a new type of project that needs approval. It covers any project that gives off 25,000 tonnes or more of greenhouse gas in any 12 months. The gases are counted as carbon dioxide equivalent. That is a way of adding up all the different greenhouse gases as if they were carbon dioxide.

The bill counts scope 1 gases. These are the gases a project gives off itself, such as from burning fuel on site. Gases count at every stage. That includes clearing land, early building work and any side jobs linked to the project.

Projects between 25,000 and 100,000 tonnes a year would go through the full federal check and approval process. When deciding, the Minister would have to think about two things. Does the project fit within the national carbon budget? And does it fit with Australia's targets to cut greenhouse gas?

The Minister could set the ways used to measure a project's gases.

The 100,000 tonne ban

Some projects would give off more than 100,000 tonnes in any 12 months. They would be treated like nuclear projects are under the current law. The Minister would have to say no.

Say a company plans a new gas plant that would give off 150,000 tonnes a year. Under this bill, the Minister could not approve it.

Another federal agency or official might be about to give a permit for a banned project. Then the Minister would have to warn them. The warning would say the project may break the law. It would say they should not approve it.

A national carbon budget

The Climate Change Authority is the federal body that gives advice on climate policy. The bill would make it write a national carbon budget. This is the total amount of greenhouse gas Australia can give off up to 2050.

The Authority would base the budget on Australia's duties under climate treaties. It would also use the temperature goals in the Paris Agreement. That is the 2015 world deal to limit warming.

Every year the Authority would work out how much of the budget is left. It would give this to the Minister and put it on its website. The Minister would have to give it to both houses of Parliament.

Other approval paths closed

The nature law has several ways a project can avoid a full federal check. One is deals with state governments. Another is plans for whole regions. There are also nature deals with landholders.

The bill would stop all of these being used to skip the climate check. Some projects in forestry and in the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park usually get a let-off from the law. That let-off would not apply to high-polluting projects.

The Minister can approve some projects as part of a bigger approved plan or policy. This is called a strategic assessment. The carbon budget and climate targets would apply there too. The 100,000 tonne ban would still hold.

Before signing a nature deal with a landholder, the Minister would have to think about the carbon budget and climate targets. Regional plans could also include climate goals. So smaller projects under the trigger could still be looked at.

Penalties

Going ahead with a high-polluting project without approval would break the law. It would carry fines set by a court and criminal charges, like the rest of the nature law. The notes on the bill do not list new dollar amounts.

Company bosses and landholders could also be held to blame. They already can be for other breaks of the law.

A person accused could defend themselves by showing they had approval or another valid permit. The new rules would only cover projects started after the law starts.

Waiting in the Senate

If passed, the law would start the day after it was signed into law.

Senator Hanson-Young brought the bill to the Senate on 5 September 2022. The Senate debated it in August 2023 and February 2024. It did not vote on it.

The bill died when the last Parliament ended in July 2025. It was put back on the Senate's list of business on 23 July 2025. Debate began again that day. It is still before the Senate. To become law it must pass the Senate, then the House of Representatives, Parliament's main house. Then the Governor-General, who stands in for the King, must sign it.

Its journey through Parliament

Official sources

• Bill page on aph.gov.au
• Text of the bill
• Explanatory memorandum

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