The Greens (WA) Climate Change Policy

The Greens (WA) believe that human induced climate change poses the greatest threat to our world in human history. Immediate, strong and sustained action is required to reduce our greenhouse gas emissions. While our lifestyles, technologies and the nature of our economy mean that Western Australians are currently amongst the worst greenhouse gas emitters on the planet on a per capita basis, it does not have to be that way. We have the world’s best solar, wind, wave and biomass resources, and potentially significant geothermal resources. We can reduce our emissions and our dependence on fossil fuels while building new and prosperous industries in a clean energy economy.

Goals

The Greens (WA) want:

• the Western Australian economy transformed to an efficient, low carbon economy powered mainly by renewable energy within this generation (See also The Greens (WA) Energy policy)
• measures to anticipate and mitigate the impacts of climate change on human settlements and the natural environment
• a fair distribution of the costs of reducing greenhouse emissions and adapting to climate change
• business and communities to respond to the dual problems of climate change and declining oil and gas production

Initiatives

The Greens (WA) will initiate and support actions that:

Carbon Pollution Reduction Scheme

• ensure a strong and effective national emissions trading scheme, with caps on emissions consistent with Australia reducing emissions by 40% by 2020 (compared to 1990 levels) and achieving zero net emissions by 2050 at the latest
• ensure permit allocation (1) through transparent auctions, with no gifting of permits to emissions-intensive industries to compensate them for the introduction of the emissions trading scheme
• ensure that revenue from the auction of permits is returned to the community, with a focus on assisting the poor and disadvantaged and assisting the development of the Australian renewable energy industry
• ensure a rigorous design and audit approach to avoid fraud, double counting and errors in reported emissions

Clean Energy

• establish an immediate moratorium on construction of any new coal-fired power stations, or expansion of existing stations, until such time as carbon sequestration is technically and commercially feasible
• promote efficient renewable energy sources, such as wind generators, solar thermal, geothermal, wave action power generation, photovoltaic cells, and appropriate biomass projects
• to the extent possible, promote renewable energy sources in and around energy demand centres to reduce energy losses and other costs associated with the transmission and distribution network
• establish a feed-in tariff scheme (2), based on gross metering (3), which complements national mandatory renewable energy targets by providing long-term, guaranteed prices for a range of prospective renewable energy technologies supplying electricity to industry and households
• as an interim measure before feed-in tariffs are introduced, encourage the removal of the national means test on rebates for roof-top photovoltaic systems and if necessary provide a top up to the federal rebate
• establish, in consultation with local communities, Renewable Energy Development Zones (REDZ) (4) with streamlined processes for planning approvals and electricity network connections
• establish a Sustainable Energy Council, with an independent budget and chair and representation from outside the public service, to develop and administer sustainable energy policy in Western Australia
• the Sustainable Energy Development Office to be reconstituted as the Secretariat to the Sustainable Energy Council

Research and Development

• redirect government subsidies currently provided to fossil fuel energy sources to long term, efficient and renewable sources
• establish a fund to support projects that are independently assessed as being most likely to assist Western Australia in its transition to a low carbon economy – which could, for example, include projects relating to renewable energies for power generation, energy storage technologies or algae-based biofuels
• support national funding of an Australian Cooperative Research Centre for Renewable Energy with a node in Western Australia to promote commercial applications of energy efficiency and renewable energy

Energy Efficiency

• establish mandatory energy efficiency audits for major energy users, with compulsory implementation of energy management plans to progressively cut greenhouse emissions
• increase minimum requirements for energy and water use efficiency in new buildings and for substantial alternations to existing buildings, and provide incentives to better these minimum requirements
• require new homes to have a minimum 7 star NatHERS rating (5) or equivalent (See also The Greens (WA) Housing policy)
• require all new homes to install solar domestic hot water systems with generous low interest loans available to finance them
• prevent the use of restrictive covenants or planning laws to stop solar hot water systems from being installed for aesthetic reasons
• grade houses for energy efficiency before sale or lease with this information supplied to the buyer or lessee
• mandate energy efficiency requirements for all energy using appliances and equipment including hot water systems, air-conditioners and televisions, to be implemented at a State level if action is not taken nationally
• roll out ‘smart meters’ with in-house energy displays showing real time energy use and greenhouse emissions
• investigate the use of escalating electricity tariffs, similar to those used for water supply, to discourage high electricity use
• increase public education initiatives promoting energy efficiency
• establish a fridge retrofitting program similar to the phoenix-fridges program operating in Melbourne

Clean Transport (See also The Greens (WA) Transport policy)

• fund the expansion and improvement of the public transport system, including  an urban light rail system for Perth and major regional centres
• provide high speed public transport passenger links to and from regions, restoring passenger rail services to major regional centres, including Albany and Geraldton
• support the establishment of national mandatory fuel efficiency standards across all classes of vehicles
• support the establishment of a national low emission fuel standard to increase the use of 'clean fuels' such as sustainable biofuels, renewable electricity, hydrogen and other systems that might become available
• tie stamp duty relief and licence fees to fuel efficiency for all vehicles
• complete the Perth Bicycle Network, and extend such networks in regional communities
• other transport initiatives as outlined in the Transport policy

Adaptation Strategies

develop a Western Australian Climate Change Adaptation Strategy to anticipate and respond to the potential impacts of climate change (See also The Greens (WA) Planning policy). As part of that strategy:

• plan for sea level rises and storm surges in coastal and estuarine areas (See also The Greens (WA) Marine and Coastal policy)
• review planning policies and building code standards to ensure an appropriate adaptation response
• review emergency plans and disaster management preparedness in anticipation of more extreme weather events
• assess the climate change implications for agriculture and develop strategies to support Wheatbelt farmers to adapt to a rapidly drying climate
• plan for increasing prevalence of tropical diseases
• prepare the Western Australian economy for possible global instability associated with climate change
• ensure social justice and equity is built in to adaptation responses through community engagement processes.

Landscape restoration

• develop a revolving fund to purchase, re-vegetate (with suitable local species) and on-sell degraded agricultural land, with the aim of sequestering carbon (6), reducing salinity and establishing self-sustaining plantation and biomass industries (See also The Greens (WA) Sustainable Agriculture and Plantations, Farm Forestry and Timber Industries policies)
• fund projects which aim to restore ecological connectivity across the landscape in order to maintain ecological health and avoid species extinctions from climate change.

(See also The Australian Greens Climate Change and Energy policy)

Glossary

1. permit allocation - The mechanism by which greenhouse gas emission permits are allocated to emitting entities such as power stations.
2. feed-in tariffs - A pricing mechanism (the tariff) that applies to renewable energy sources of electricity generation that feed in to the standard electricity grid.
3. gross metering - credits on the total amount of power produced by a system that is connected to the grid
4. Renewable Energy Development Zones - areas identified by government, with community and industry support, as suitable for the installation of particular renewable energy technologies
5. National House Energy Rating Scheme (NatHERS) measures the amount of energy required to keep a home comfortable. It uses a rating out of 10 stars, like the energy rating stickers on whitegoods.
6. carbon sequestration - A biological or artificial process that stores carbon 'captured' out of the atmosphere, usually as carbon dioxide (CO2) gas, in a semi-permanent form.