Chubb Review misses the most important thing about emissions

Australia must really cut emissions if it wants to stop harmful climate change. The Climate Council says that the new Chubb Review, which looked at carbon offsets, can't be used instead of avoiding and reducing harmful emissions.

The Chubb Review may have done its job by focusing on how Australian Carbon Credit Units (ACCUs) are run, how they are made, and how they are reported, but it doesn't address the elephant in the room: too many big polluters are buying ACCUs so they can keep polluting as usual.

Carbon offsets should only be used as a last resort and only for small emissions that cannot be reduced through the process, technology, or other operational changes.

Instead, for many businesses, the first and only thing they do about their harmful emissions is pay for ACCUs. As the Australian government gets ready to strengthen the Safeguard Mechanism, the law that controls the emissions of Australia's biggest industrial polluters, this must change.

Dr. Jennifer Rayner, who is in charge of advocacy for the Climate Council, said, "On paper, cheap and easy offsets don't do much to solve the climate crisis, which is already hurting Australians by making extreme weather, floods, and fires worse." Emissions cuts that are real and deep are the only long-term solution.

"The Chubb Review has made some excellent suggestions for making carbon credits more trustworthy and clear. The most important question, though, is where and how carbon credits will be used.

"The Safeguard Mechanism shouldn't let big polluters keep polluting as usual by offsetting most or all of their emissions. This will just cause more pollution and worsen climate damage as usual. For the Safeguard Mechanism to work and for emissions to go down, there must be strict rules about how offsets can be used.

The Climate Council wants the Safeguard Mechanism to be changed in many ways, such as:

• A limit on the number of emissions that facilities can make up for ensures that large industrial polluters do cut their emissions.

• Setting real limits (baselines) for businesses that require big drops in emissions through 2030 and getting rid of the "headroom" that the Liberal Government gave businesses before.

• There are no special deals for facilities that use fossil fuels, even new coal and gas facilities.

Dr. Rayner said, "It's very important to get the Safeguard Mechanism right if we want to make the deep cuts in emissions that Australia needs this decade to avoid the worst effects of dangerous climate change."

"The Chubb Review shouldn't be used as an excuse for Australia's biggest polluters to keep doing what they're doing. We need real steps to cut emissions right away, not more cheap paper offsets." Dr. Rayner said.

Climate Change Minister Chris Bowen welcomed the report and said the government had accepted all of its recommendations in principle.

“We want to make sure our carbon credit system is working for all Australians, supporting lower emissions and providing job opportunities for farmers and the agricultural sector,” he added.

Farmers for Climate Action is happy that the Chubb Review of Australia's carbon credit scheme came out today and wants the Federal Government to follow all of its suggestions. However, the final report doesn't do a good job of addressing the most important issue, which is whether or not existing carbon credits are honest.

Professor Andrew Macintosh from Australian National University resigned from the Emissions Reduction Assurance Committee after he found problems with some of the ways carbon credits were made. This led to the Chubb review.

In the end, Professor Macintosh got the support of big players in carbon credits, who together make up about half of Australia's carbon credits.

The review called for major changes to the system, but it didn't find any problems with how credits work now.

Campbell Klose, the director of strategy for Farmers for Climate Action, said that Australia's farmers depended on the integrity of Australia's carbon credits to keep the value of their investments in growing carbon crops and the income they brought in.

"Farmers for Climate Action welcomes the Chubb Review's suggestions to stop the Clean Energy Regulator from having multiple roles that conflict with each other, to give the integrity committee a new lease on life, and to stop new projects from claiming carbon credits under avoided deforestation,” Klose said

Klose said the review makes good suggestions that are a step towards fixing the problems, but it doesn't say that there are any problems. It doesn't make sense to talk about solutions without talking about the problem. This review doesn't say much about whether or not there are problems with the market right now. Australian farmers who have put money into growing carbon crops are the ones who pay the price when problems with carbon credits are found. This is because it lowers confidence in the market and the price paid for carbon credits.

"We also want governments to keep in mind that offsets can only be a small part of Australia's plan to cut down on glasshouse gas emissions.” The best way to stop emissions is to stop them where they come from,” Klose said

"We agree with what the Federal Government said about how it will use the review's suggestions."Klose dislosed.