Australia

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🔬研究者:Provides a comprehensive update on Australian climate law and policy, useful for comparative legal research.

🏢実務担当者:Highlights upcoming disclosure requirements and regulatory changes that Australian businesses must prepare for.

🏛政策担当者:Offers insights into Australia's policy mix, including carbon capture, hydrogen, and renewable targets, relevant for policy design.

The federal government implemented a range of plans to fulfil Australia’s international obligations this year, particularly through industrial and trade policy to mitigate climate change. A notable bilateral treaty between Australia and its Pacific neighbour, Tuvalu, recognized Tuvalu’s statehood and sovereignty notwithstanding the impact of climate change-related sea-level rise and set out mutual obligations relating to migration and security. Yet there were missed opportunities. A major and rather unexpected example was the collapse of federal attempts at large-scale reform to biodiversity protection laws. As detailed in previous reports, ‘nature positive’ initiatives were proposed to overcome the significant limitations of the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999 (Cth). These initiatives would have introduced a new national Environment Protection Authority and implemented other recommendations of the 2021 Samuel Review of that statute (see our reports from previous years). The Labor government ultimately shelved the ‘nature positive’ reform legislation, which may be resurrected after the election scheduled for May 2025. Other legislative activity on biodiversity offsets and other issues occurred in various Australian states and territories. In the context of litigation relating to Australia’s international environmental obligations, legal developments occurred at the international, federal, and subnational levels, in matters relating to climate change, threats to biodiversity, cultural heritage, and other issues. These and other legal developments, detailed below, exist alongside significant and mounting environmental harms, including to iconic Australian places such as the Great Barrier Reef. Australia attended the twenty-ninth session of the Conference of the Parties (COP-29) of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) in Baku, Azerbaijan, which included an agreement on a New Collective Quantified Goal on climate finance. Almost 200 countries, including Australia, agreed to triple finance to developing countries, from a previous goal of US $100 billion to ‘at least USD 300 billion per year by 2035’ (see the Baku Climate Unity Pact). Australia was urged, among other parties, to do more to meet the estimated US $1.3 trillion required to mitigate and adapt to climate change effectively. Australia undertook commitments including: partnering with Pacific nations to improve energy security and scale up energy grid transitions; supporting Pacific countries to build more resilient and equitable public health systems; contributing AU $50 million to the Fund for Responding to Loss and Damage; boosting the efforts of climate-focused businesses across Southeast Asia, South Asia, and the Pacific through the Climate Catalyst Window; guaranteeing up to US $200 million in loans through the Asian Development Bank; and signing on to the COP-29 Hydrogen Declaration, the COP-29 Global Energy Storage and Grids Pledge, the Call to Action for No New Coal in national climate plans, and the Clean Energy Finance Mission under the Global Clean Power Alliance (<https://unfccc.int/cop29/auvs>; <https://www.dcceew.gov.au/about/news/outcomes-for-australia-cop29>). Australia and the United Kingdom signed a new climate and energy partnership at the sidelines of COP-29 (see further, ‘Trade and Environment,’ below). A novel climate and migration agreement, the Australia-Tuvalu Falepili Union, which was signed on 9 November 2023, entered into force on 29 August 2024 (see further under the heading ‘Human Rights’ below). Australia is bidding to host COP-31 of the UNFCCC in 2026 in partnership with its Pacific neighbours and is currently in competition with a rival bid from Turkey. In its third Annual Climate Change Statement, the Australian government flagged progress on climate change and energy initiatives in 2024. This statement is a requirement under the Climate Change Act 2022, as noted in previous reports, and was tabled in Parliament on 28 November along with Australia’s Emissions Projections 2024, Australia’s National Greenhouse Gas Inventory Quarterly Update: June 2024, and the Climate Change Authority’s 2024 Annual Progress Report. The statement noted that in 2030, Australia’s emissions are projected to be 42.6 per cent below 2005 levels in the baseline scenario, and the sum of all emissions from 2021 to 2030 is projected to beat Australia’s 2030 target by 3 per cent. The statement highlighted a major new industrial policy as supporting progress towards a more carbon-neutral economy and, ultimately, to net zero. The Future Made in Australia (FMIA) policy was implemented through the passage of various pieces of legislation in 2024, including the Net Zero Economy Authority Act 2024, under which the federal government has established the Net Zero Economy Authority. The inaugural chief executive officer was appointed to the Authority in November. The Future Made in Australia (Guarantee of Origin) Bill 2024 was passed in December. It introduces a Clean Energy Regulator-administered scheme to certify products through Product Guarantee of Origin certificates and renewable electricity through Renewable Electricity Guarantee of Origin certificates. The federal government also introduced a New Vehicle Efficiency Standard to reduce motor vehicle emissions, which commenced on 1 January 2025. The new standard applies only to new vehicles. As part of the FMIA policy, the new Treasury Laws Amendment (Financial Market Infrastructure and Other Measures) Bill 2024, passed in September, amends the Australian Securities and Investment Commission Act 2001 and the Corporations Act 2001 to phase in new climate-related financial reporting requirements for large Australian businesses and financial institutions. As an independent reviewer of progress, the Climate Change Authority (CCA) released its third annual progress report. The CCA noted, among other things, that, while ‘new policies have improved Australia’s prospects of cutting emissions in line with the national 2030 targets,’ ‘only the delivery of their promised outcomes’ will get Australia there, stating that the ‘speed and scale’ necessary for the changes had not yet been reached (<https://www.climatechangeauthority.gov.au>). The CCA reviewed the potential technology transition and emissions pathways that will best support Australia’s transition to net zero by 2050, focussing on decarbonization in six sectors: agriculture and land; built environment; electricity and energy; industry and waste; transport; and resource. The CCA is also developing advice on the 2035 emissions reduction targets for Australia’s next Nationally Determined Contribution, which is due in 2025. In December, the federal government presented its First Nations Clean Energy Strategy. The Strategy provides a clean energy framework for government, industries, and communities and seeks to place First Nations People at the core of Australia’s energy transition. The Strategy sets out the principles and actions required to ensure that First Nations peoples’ rights and interests are affirmed as an ‘essential component’ of the transition. The federal government also released its 2024 National Hydrogen Strategy, which represents a formal review and update of the 2019 National Hydrogen Strategy. The new strategy focuses on accelerating clean hydrogen industry growth, including through the production of FMIA-related incentives. The federal government’s Capacity Investment Scheme for renewable generation and energy storage was expanded in 2024: it aims to deliver an additional 32 gigawatts of renewable capacity and storage by 2030. The Environment Protection (Sea Dumping) Amendment (Using New Technologies to Fight Climate Change) Bill was passed by both Houses of Parliament in late 2023. This followed a report of the House Standing Committee on Climate Change, Energy, Environment and Water (see this report from last year), which recommended that the Australian government ratify the 2009 and 2013 amendments to the 1996 Protocol to the Convention on the Prevention of Marine Pollution by Dumping of Wastes and Other Matter relating to carbon capture and storage technologies and an inquiry and report of the Senate Environment and Communications Legislation Committee (which received thirty-six submissions, including from the Australian Marine Conservation Society). In November, Australia ratified the 2009 amendment, joining Norway, the United Kingdom, Netherlands, Iran, Finland, Estonia, Sweden, Denmark, Korea, Belgium, and Switzerland, thus supporting its plans to be a regional carbon capture and storage hub. The Climate Change Amendment (Duty of Care and Intergenerational Climate Equity) Bill 2023, a private member’s bill from ACT Senator David Pocock, did not pass. This Bill sought to amend the Climate Change Act 2022 to require decision-makers to consider the well-being of current and future children when making certain decisions. The lack of support followed the recommendation received from the Senate Standing Committee on Environment and Communications in 2024. Alongside developments at the federal level, the Australian states initiated activities relevant to Australia’s international climate obligations. The Victorian government, whose existing Climate Change Strategy includes a set of targets to cut the state’s emissions on the path to net zero emissions by 2045, adopted a Bill that was passed as the Climate Change and Energy Legislation Amendment (Renewable Energy and Storage Targets) Act 2024. The legislation sets a new renewable energy generation target of 95 per cent by 2035, energy storage targets as well as Australia’s first offshore wind electricity generation targets and embeds climate considerations in land use planning decision-making. In New South Wales, the government released its Climate Change Adaption Action Plan (2025–29). The plan identifies forty-six actions led by eigh

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