Consultation opens today on making emissions reductions an objective of the national energy laws, which govern the way our electricity and gas markets and regulations work across the states and territories.
This consultation is the next step in implementing the landmark decision of federal, state and territory Energy Ministers at their recent meeting in August 2022.
This overdue reform is the first substantial change to the objects of the ³Ô¹ÏÍøÕ¾ Energy Laws in 15 years and will give our three market bodies, the Australian Energy Market Commission, Australian Energy Regulator and Australian Energy Market Operator, the explicit requirement to consider emissions reduction in their work.
The ³Ô¹ÏÍøÕ¾ Energy Laws Amendment (Emissions Reduction Objectives) Bill 2022 and consultation paper has been drafted to incorporate emissions reductions into the national energy objectives, which guides market bodies in their decision making.
Minister for Climate Change and Energy Chris Bowen said the bill was integral to managing the country’s energy transition.
“I welcome the release of the draft bill and consultation paper on incorporating an emissions- reduction component into the national energy objectives,” Minister Bowen said.
“It sends a clear policy signal to market participants, investors and the public of the government’s commitment to work together to manage the transformation of the energy sector to achieve a decarbonised, modern and reliable grid of firmed renewables.”
The proposed legislation incorporates an emissions reduction objective into each of the three national energy laws – the ³Ô¹ÏÍøÕ¾ Electricity Law (NEL), the ³Ô¹ÏÍøÕ¾ Energy Retail Law (NERL) and the ³Ô¹ÏÍøÕ¾ Gas Law (NGL) – via consistent amendments.
Minister Bowen is encouraging stakeholders to engage with the draft bill during the consultation phase running until 7 February 2023.
The final draft will be progressed to Energy Ministers for final agreement early in 2023.
The draft bill consultation can be found here .
