On 24 November 2014 the Australian Parliament passed the Carbon Farming Initiative Amendment Bill 2014 (Bill) which puts in place the Emissions Reduction Fund (ERF). The ERF is the cornerstone of the Australian Government’s Direct Action Plan climate change policy for the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions. It will provide AUD2.55 billion in financial incentives over four years for companies to voluntarily reduce emissions. The Government says its Direct Action Plan climate change policy will mean that Australia will meet the five percent emissions reduction target by 2020.
International
Emissions Reduction Fund Passed by Australian Parliament
By Jenny Mee, Renee Thomlinson | K&L Gates LLPSign up and get Breaking Energy news in your inbox.
We will never sell or share your information without your consent. See our privacy policy.Major news out of Iraq is getting drowned out by falling oil price coverage. The Kurdish Regional Government and Iraq’s central government today reached an agreement on exporting oil and sharing revenue. The KRG will release 500,000 or 550,000 barrels of oil per day (reports conflict on this here and here) to Iraq’s State Oil… Keep reading →
Energy Quote of the Day: ‘We Are Now Going to Focus Our Energy Sources in Other Directions’
By Jared AndersonNews broke Monday that Gazprom would no longer move forward with the South Stream pipeline project due to European opposition. Russian President Putin made the announcement after meeting with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Putin said the two countries would cooperate on the possibility of creating a gas trading hub on the Turkish-Greek border.… Keep reading →
COP 20 in Lima: Africa at Disproportionate Risk from Climate Change
By Roman KilisekToday, the Conference of Parties to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (COP 20) begins in Lima (Peru) and is widely seen – as Elias Ntungwe Ngalame in an article for Deutsche Welle (DW) rightly notes – by environmental experts “as a crucial springboard to COP 21 in Paris” next year. Naturally, the large… Keep reading →
Australia and China Free Trade Agreement
By Natasha Augustin, Robert Milbourne | K&L Gates LLPThis week, following the successful hosting of the G20 summit, the Australian Federal Government signed a declaration of intention with China to bring into force a China-Australia Free Trade Agreement (ChAFTA). The agreement comes after a decade of negotiations between the two countries and is expected to be worth up to AUD18 billion to the Australian economy over the next few years. The agreement will ensure 85% of all Australian exports will enter the Chinese market tariff-free, rising to 93% within four years and 95% once it is fully operational.
En Route to Closing the Emissions Gap in 2030: Climate-Relevant International Policy Developments in 2014
By Roman KilisekWhile governments around the globe prepare to attend the next UN climate change conference in Lima (Peru), which is another important milestone on their ultimate journey to Paris in December 2015 – where the post-2020 international framework is to be agreed – the UN Environment Program (UNEP) released the updated Emissions Gap Report 2014. This… Keep reading →
Regional Nuclear Plans in the Aftermath of an Iran Deal
By Simon HendersonWhile the purpose of multilateral negotiations with Iran is to reduce proliferation concerns, successful talks may in fact accelerate nuclear plans in the Gulf states and Jordan. In April 2009, King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia famously told U.S. special envoy Dennis Ross that “if [the Iranians] get nuclear weapons, we will get nuclear weapons.” Such… Keep reading →
OPEC Meeting and The Price of Oil: Russia’s Biggest Worry and Saudi Arabia’s ‘Tour de France’ Strategy
By Roman KilisekRussian officials already in the unenviable position of dealing with the impact of Western sanctions on their national economy as reflected in a tumbling ruble – in spite of continuous Central Bank interventions – and capital outflows, now face the possibility of a recession looming in 2015, according to recent World Bank projections. Russia: Policy Uncertainty… Keep reading →
Rising Pollution in the Developing World, Is India a Climate Protection ‘Wild Card’?
By Roman KilisekThe world is constantly and almost instantaneously transforming right before our eyes. Given the complexity and interconnectedness of resulting emerging challenges it is advisable for policymakers to attempt to get ahead of the curve. This is exactly what the World Economic Forum’s “Outlook on the Global Agenda 2015” is envisioned to offer to a broad… Keep reading →
Energy Quote of the Day: ‘As the Regional Global Energy Picture Evolves, Turkey’s Strategic Location is a Major, Major Asset’
By Jared AndersonUS Vice President Joe Biden recently addressed the Atlantic Council Energy and Economic Summit in Istanbul, Turkey where he discussed numerous topics related to European energy security. Biden began his talk with the situation in Ukraine and Russia’s use of energy as a political tool. He recognized the fact that Russia will remain a major… Keep reading →