The centrepiece of the Government's climate policy is the Climate Solutions Package. Announced 5 March 2019, the Package features a $2 billion top-up and expansion of the Emissions Reduction Fund (ERF) over 10 years from 2020, rebadged as the 'Climate Solutions Fund'
Key points around the Fund's operation include:
- Incentives are payable for emissions reduction activities which come from the Government's consolidated revenues
- The Fund uses the existing National Greenhouse and Energy Reporting (NGER) scheme to measure overall company carbon emissions
- Businesses that reduce their emissions below their baseline will be able to sell their CO2 emissions reduction to the Government
- A reverse auction operates to purchase abatement at the lowest cost per tonne.
Resources
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An overview of the Coalition’s Direct Action planIssued: April 2014The ‘Direct Action plan’ was prepared for the 2010 Federal election to outline the broad principles that a Coalition Government would follow in the development of programs to reduce Australia’s CO2 emissions by 5% by 2020. At the centre of the Plan is the Emissions Reduction Fund that allows industry to sell carbon abatement back to the Government.
