WA steers clear of carbon offset requirments as consulation on EPA emission rules launched
WA’s environmental regulator has scrapped talk of carbon emissions offset requirements.
Western Australia’s environmental regulator has dropped any reference to full carbon emissions offset requirements as it launched a formal consultation around the guidelines that had threatened billions of dollars of new resources projects.
The Environmental Protection Authority today formally launched its greenhouse gas assessment consultation, just months after it announced and quickly withdrew a proposal that would have required major industrial projects in the state to fully offset their emissions.
EPA chief Tom Hatton told reporters in Perth today that the consultation did not include any formal targets around offsets, with the regulator instead seeking a range of suggestions from industry and the community about how to consider and address the emissions profile of future project proposals.
The 12-week consultation process will form the basis of a draft set off new greenhouse gas emission guidelines scheduled for release in October. Stakeholders will then be allowed to provide feedback on the new position ahead of a decision around the final new guidelines in December.
The consultation will also seek views on whether so-called “scope three” emissions — which are generated by the end-use of products and resources from WA, such as the burning of gas or smelting of iron ore — should be included in the EPA’s assessment.
The oil and gas sector will likely argue that its big gas projects — which have driven a surge in WA’s carbon emissions in recent years — actually deliver a net emissions benefit by replacing the burning of coal in Asia.
But any inclusion of “scope three” in the new guidelines would likely be a major blow to WA’s dominant iron ore industry, the single biggest source of revenue for the state, given the emissions generated by the steel making process.
While the new consultation makes no mention of the potential to require full carbon offsets from major projects, Dr Hatton said there was an important need for the EPA to consider how any new projects could contribute to climate change.
“Australia has already recognised that Australia has an international responsibility for the collective emissions and we are following that same logic and absolutely referring to the Australian ambition, the nationally determined reductions and further commitments under Paris,” Dr Hatton said.
“We have to be responsible to give advice to our minister on greenhouse gas emissions that come from Western Australia because they contribute to climate change impact in the state.”
Dr Hatton stressed that the final guidelines would not be state policy, and noted that WA’s environment minister would still have the final say on whether to accept the EPA’s project recommendations.
The full offset requirements flagged and then withdrawn by the EPA in March drew a fierce response from industry, with Woodside Petroleum in particular warning that the plan could jeopardise major projects in the state.