Australia

According to Australia's latest NDC, the country's objectives are to "overachieve" on its 2030 target - set at a 26 to 28% reduction in emissions against 2005 levels - and reach net zero emissions as soon as possible. However, these objectives are not compatible with the goals of the Paris Agreement, and fail to tap into the country's clean energy resources.

Australia has a "Technology Investment Roadmap" to drive down the cost of deploying new and emerging technologies such as clean hydrogen, energy storage, low carbon materials, carbon capture and storage and soil carbon. The Australian Renewable Energy Agency and the Clean Energy Finance Corporation support investments in renewable energies and carbon capture and storage. Other measures include a Emissions Reduction Fund, Climate Solutions Package, the Safeguard Mechanism, or the National Energy Productivity plan. The Department of Agriculture, Water and Environment is responsible for delivering climate change adaptation and climate science policy and programs and leads the "Long-term Emissions Reduction Strategy", to be presented in the COP26, in which the Technology Investment Roadmap will play a core role.

Consultation is required as part of the Regulation Impact Assessment. Full public consultation is expected unless otherwise justified. Requirements to consult with employees about significant changes in the workplace are set out in legislation. However, although employers must consider matters raised by employees, there is no need to obtain their consent. Furthermore, there is no mandated representation for workers and women in corporate governance bodies.

The Global Compact Network Australia, with the support of government funding has developed a web platform with the aim of centralizing and showcasing actions taken to advance the SDGs in the country. The Platform provides several resources to companies and civil society including tools, reports, and examples. It is not clear, however, the existence of a national SDG strategy for businesses or reporting tools and government support for private sector SDG delivery.

The Australian Bureau of Statistics has produced a selected set of EEA annually, and EEA were being produced at different range of levels, scales and timeframes. However, there is still no work underway to combine existing capitals accounts into national wealth accounts, and social or human capital accounts have not been considered on a national level.

The Australian Sustainable Finance initiative is a multi-stakeholder collaboration created to develop a Sustainable Finance Roadmap. Its objectives include, among others, enhancing the sustainability, resilience and stability of the financial system by embedding sustainability and human rights considerations into financial markets, and ensuring better decision making by enhancing disclosures and transparency in financial markets for enhanced evaluation of environmental and social risks and opportunities. The Roadmap includes 37 recommendations, including the following: codify free, prior and informed consent, manage and measure impact on others, develop stewardship codes, value environmental and social externalities, etc. Although The Australian Prudential Regulation Authority and the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) are observers to the ASFI Steering Committee, there is no government involvement in the development of green financial markets either through the ASFI or through the promotion of policies and regulations.

While state-level governments and Australian companies have been active in issuing green bonds and sustainability-linked loans, the central government has yet to issue green bonds yet. At the state level, the Queensland Treasure Corporation has issued sustainability debt instruments while Victoria has issued green bonds, NSW has issued sustainability bonds and the Canberra Metro (a PPP) is part-financed through climate bonds. The Commonwealth procurement rules require environmental factors to be considered when assessing value for money in public procurement, including the use of the Sustainable procurement guide that contains instructions on how to consider sustainability issues such as energy use, environmental impact, and recycled materials. Sustainable procurement is closely linked to the National Waste Policy Action Plan. Fiscal policies, on the other hands, include measures that subsidize environmental damage, such as power subsidy or fuel tax credits.

The Australian Prudential Regulation Authority (APRA) is an independent statutory authority that supervises financial institutions and promotes financial system stability in Australia. During the COVID-19 outbreak, APRA conducted ad-hoc stress tests to assess adequacy of bank capital - and indicated that it wants non-financial risks to be incorporated more deliberately into stress testing exercises.

In 2021, the regulator commenced the first of a series of planned Climate Vulnerability Assessment (CVA) exercises to explore potential financial exposure and macroeconomic risks to large banks, the financial system and the economy from both physical and transition-related climate risks. The initial pilot stress test (underway) focuses on the five largest Australian banks, with plans to expand future CVAs to the rest of the banking sector though details and a potential timetable for this remain unclear. Other promising, albeit tentative, steps forward include the release of APRAs guide on the management of climate-related financial risk, and the call for APRA-regulated entities to complete a voluntary climate risk self-assessment survey.

Australia repealed its Carbon Tax Scheme in 2014 and does not have an Emissions Trading Scheme. Despite not having an ETS, Australia created the Emissions Reduction Fund, a voluntary scheme that allows organizations earning Australian Carbon Credit Units (ACCUs) for emissions reductions. One ACCU is earned for each tonne of CO2 stored or avoided by a project. These ACCUs can be sold to generate income - either on the voluintary market or through government purchasing. As of 2018, 191 million tonnes were secured through six auctions. Australia developed a Safeguard Mechanism to ensure that emissions reductions purchased through the Fund are not offset by significant increases in emissions above business-as-usual levels elsewhere in the economy.

Australia has a National Energy Productivity Plan and a Technology Investment Roadmap in order to achieve improvements towards a low-carbon economy. However, the country does not seem to have coordinated green sectoral policy plans, and some of the approaches are not particularly "green" but rather neutral approaches. There are some examples of individual approaches in sectors like industry or waste, among others. There is no strategy or plan to decarbonise the industrial sector, but there is a "National Hydrogen Strategy" that refers to a technology-neutral approach and clean hydrogen could be produced using fossil fuels as long as theres substantial carbon capture. In relation to transport, although there are some exemptions from vehicle taxes for highly efficient vehicles, there are also subsidies in place like the fuel tax credit. As per waste, there is a National Waste Policy, which puts emphasis on circular economy principles and targets, such as phasing out problematic and unnecessary plastics by 2025, increasing the use of recycled content by governments and industry, and 80% average resource recovery rate from all waste streams, by 2030.

There are some governmental grant programs available to assist small companies with funding energy efficiency projects, including the "Clean Energy Finance Corporation" that operates programs targeting clean energy and energy efficiency improvements for small businesses, manufacturers and the agricultural sector, as well as small-scale commercial property. Another grant program is the "Business Energy Advice Program", that provides advice to help small businesses and their representatives get better energy deals and increase their energy efficiency. Although there are social enterprises and schemes that certify them, there is no legal definition of a social enterprise in Australia. No evidence has been found of targeted training for SMEs.

The Nationally Determined Contribution Recommunication discloses that the emissions budget for the period 2021-2030 accounts for 4832 - 4764 million tonnes of CO2eq, corresponding to the 26-28% range published in the Country's emissions projections for 2020. No further commitments beyond indicating that the country aims to achieve carbon neutrality as soon as possible.

Australia's current policies do not include appropriately elevated percentages for clean energy targets. The national Renewable Energy Target does not now incentivise new investment in large scale renewables, and is phasing out national support for small scale renewable projects, and the federal government has resumed investing in gas-fired power plants. The National Energy Productivity (economic output in relation to energy used) Plan has the objective of improving productivity by 40% between 2015 and 2030 through energy efficiency, energy market reform and climate change-related measures. However, action on the NEPP has been insufficient on many of the measures it contains. The country is currently lacking a national energy efficiency mechanism, nor objective to reduce emissions in the National Energy Market (the east coast electricity market which covers the majority of generation and use). However, renewable targets are very robust in many state governments. For instance, Victoria, Queensland, and the Northern Territory have targeted 50% renewables by 2030, while South Australia is targeting 100% by 2030. Tasmania and the ACT have already achieved 100% renewable. At the federal level, the Renewable energy target is set at 33,000 GWh in 2020, which would represent about 23.5% of electricity generation. According to the latest Energy Update, 21% of electricity generation came from renewable energies. ARENA (Australian Renewable Energy Agency) supports investments in renewable energies, and The CEFC (Clean Energy Finance Corporation) invests in clean energy transactions and investment projects.

Although there have been some recommendations, there is no explicit green job creation strategy at the national level, or specific plans to tackle inequality through jobs. In spite of this, there are specific projects at the regional level. For instance, in Aboriginal territories, under the umbrella of the Emissions Reduction Fund projects, Savanna burning projects avoid GHG emissions by lowering the frequency of late dry-season bushfires that would otherwise produce emissions. Income from these projects helps provide jobs in the local communities. This and similar projects support every year more than 300 Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander jobs. The Climate Council, a civil society organisation released a report where it explains how 76,000 new jobs could contribute to economic growth while achieving a transition to a low-carbon economy. However, this is a recommendation and not part of the government plans.

Australia has in place several policies and plans to address poverty, inequality and economic marginalization, although they lack an environmental approach. There's a disability-inclusive development assistance that supports disability specific aid investments, unemployment programs for young people with disabilities, and for young Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people. In addition, the government has the Closing the Gap framework in place, with the aim of eliminating the gap between Indigenous and non-indigenous Australians.

Consultation is required as part of the Regulation Impact Assessment. A Best Practice consultation guide of the Government indicates that there are four consultation options: full public, targeted, confidential or post-decision. Full public (with all affected parties, transparent and open to the public) is the appropriate level for all proposals unless a compelling case for a limited form of consultation is made. The government has a specific website for business consultation for agencies to post consultations and for stakeholders to supply feedback. It is not clear whether there are impact assessments procedures focusing on impact on women, socially marginalized or other vulnerable groups.

There are social protection policies and strategies although they do not necessarily have a green or innovative approach, such as the National Disability Strategy which includes social protection, a welfare system that supports capacity building or the National disability insurance that supports skills and capability building. There are some examples of innovative social projects, such as the Newpin Social Benefit Bond, that aims to improve the life outcomes of children in care (the issuance of a social bond supports families to break cycles of neglect and abuse and provide safe, nurturing environments for children). As indicated in the pro-poor policy, the Government also funds a number of community initiatives to address young unemployment and mental health issues.

Australia has approximately 40% of its water included in Marine Parks, which exceeds the SDG 14 target. The government has an investment plant to protect the Great Barrier Reef (2050 Reef Plan). It reports different initiatives that are being conducted in its National Voluntary Report. In regards to fishing management, the key commercial stock has been improved over recent years, and there's no overfishing in these stocks. The Government also has the "Landcare Program" in place since 2014 through which the Government works with different stakeholders to protect water, soil, plants, animals and ecosystems, and supports the productive and sustainable use of these resources. Among different programs supported the 2050 Reef Plan, the "Smart Farms Program", "20 Million Trees", Support for Indigenous Protected Areas, etc. are included. In relation to forests, the National Forest Policy Statement provides the framework to work to achieve a sustainable management of forests. This framework includes the Regional Forest Agreements with state governments, which are 20-year plans for the conservation and sustainable management of native forests.

The Australian Bureau of Statistics has been producing a selected set of Environmental Economic Accounts (EEA) annually, and EEA were being produced at different range of levels, scales and timeframes. In 2018, a national EEA Strategy and Action Plan was developed, in order to set out a common national approach to provide coherent and integrated accounts. While the EEAs are being implemented, there remains some issues with achieving its goal (e.g. lack of consistent natural capital measures). In this sense, ambition of the project is high, but important gaps remain in terms of on-the-ground implementation.

Although Australia is implementing national Environmental Economic Accounts, no evidence has been found on natural capital advisory body or how experts provide advice to government in relation to these matters.

The Australian Government has different taxes in place that subsidises environmental damage, such as fuel tax credits or car parking fringe benefits. While approximately 28% of electricity was generated from renewable sources in 2020, the government stills supports fossil fuel electricity generation through a power subsidy.