Mike Symon (Deakin, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

I speak in support of the Carbon Credits (Carbon Farming Initiative) Bill 2011, the Carbon Credits (Consequential Amendments) Bill 2011 and the Australian National Registry of Emissions Units Bill 2011 in this cognate debate. This legislation is a part of the federal government's response to the challenge of tackling climate change and will create opportunities for Australian farmers and landowners to benefit from reducing carbon emissions or from storing carbon in their soil. The Carbon Farming Initiative will reward land based carbon abatement projects with credits for each tonne of carbon saved or stored, which can then be sold in domestic and international markets or retained to offset emissions. Carbon abatement can be achieved by land based projects which reduce emissions or remove carbon from the atmosphere. An example of projects that reduce emissions is the capture and destruction of methane emissions from landfill or projects that reduce methane emissions from farm animals. The company or entity that invests funds into reducing the leakage of methane emissions into the air will receive in return a credit for that carbon abated, credits that can be sold or retained to offset other emissions. Examples of projects that remove carbon from the atmosphere include reforestation, revegetation, avoided devegetation, improved management of forests and enhanced soil carbon. The bills we are debating today are just one small part of the Labor government's response to climate change.

The Labor government is committed to introduce a carbon price to take effect from 1 July 2012. Although the price on carbon would not place any liability on agricultural, forestry or legacy waste emissions, the Carbon Farming Initiative bill is about creating an opportunity to use the demand for carbon offsets created by a price on carbon to fund projects on the land that would reduce carbon. The Gillard Labor government understands the importance of having accurate scientific information on climate change. We need to know the science, what the international community is doing to deal with climate change and the world's best practice. So it was the Labor government that established the Climate Commission as an independent source of information on the science and impacts of climate change, global responses to climate change and the operation of carbon pricing. The Climate Commission is supported by a scientific advisory panel made up of nine independent experts. Just this week, on 23 May, the Climate Commission released its report entitled The critical decade: Key messages. There are some salient lines in it. I quote from its report:

There is no doubt that the climate is changing, the evidence is overwhelming and clear. The atmosphere is warming, the ocean is warming, ice is being lost from glaciers and ice caps and sea levels are rising. Global surface temperature is rising fast; the last decade was the hottest on record. In the last 50 years the number of record hot days in Australia has more than doubled.

This is also from the report:

A very large body of observations, experiments, analyses, and physical theory points to increasing greenhouse gases in the atmosphere—with carbon dioxide being the most important—as the primary cause of the observed warming.

I believe Australia has an obligation to act to reduce its carbon emissions. The science clearly proves that reduction in carbon emissions is the key to tackling climate change. As the highest per capita emitter in the developed world and one of the 20 largest emitters on an absolute basis, Australia must take action.

As part of the international efforts to tackle climate change, Australia under the Labor government ratified the Kyoto protocol, a move the Howard Liberal government could not bring itself to make. Under the Kyoto protocol, Australia is committed to restraining its national emissions to an average of 108 per cent of 1990 levels over the first commitment period from 2008 to 2012. Whilst Australia's emissions projections released on 9 February this year demonstrate that Australia is on track to meet this target, without additional policy action our emissions are projected to be 24 per cent above 2000 levels by 2020 and 44 per cent above 2000 levels by 2030.

The ability to generate saleable carbon credits provides an investment incentive helping to channel carbon finance into land sector abatement. These bills will allow for carbon farming projects to be created and for the carbon sequestered in these projects to be exchanged for Australian carbon credit units. It is crucial that the integrity of the abatement projects is protected, and this will ensure that credits can be bought and sold with the assurance that carbon has been or will be abated.

Under this legislation, the Australian National Registry of Emissions Units will oversee the issuing of the Australian carbon credit units. The Australian national registry already exists as an electronic system which is used to ensure accurate accounting of the issuance, holding, transfer, acquisition, cancellation, retirement and carryover of emissions units under the Kyoto protocol. This legislation will combine the registry functions of the Carbon Farming Initiative and the Kyoto protocol together in the Australian National Registry of Emissions Units.

Offset projects will be required to use methodologies assessed and endorsed by the Domestic Offsets Integrity Committee and approved by the minister. The committee is an independent expert that assesses draft methodologies proposed for use under the scheme. These methodologies contain the detailed rules for implementing and monitoring specific abatement activities and generating carbon credits under the scheme.

This legislation also commits to monitoring the impact of the scheme on the environment and on rural communities and to taking steps to prevent perverse impacts if there is evidence that projects are likely to have a material and adverse impact on the allocation of prime agricultural land, water availability or biodiversity.

I refer to statements in support of this legislation from the National Farmers Federation. On 24 March this year they put out a media release welcoming the introduction of the Carbon Farming Initiative legislation to parliament and noting that the NFF were pleased it had addressed a number of key concerns raised through the draft consultation process. Further, they said:

The Government deserves credit for listening to the farm sector and modifying its proposal to ensure that genuine abatement opportunities under the CFI are not unnecessarily overlooked.

The government has been supporting research into land based carbon abatement. Some of the serious work in researching how carbon abatement can be achieved on the land has already commenced. For instance, under the Australia's Farming Future program, the federal government has funded $46 million over four years to research how primary producers can reduce carbon emissions. The CSIRO and other research institutions are making important advances under this program.

The Soil Carbon Research Program funded under Australia's Farming Future is developing a scientific understanding of the potential of Australia's agricultural soils to sequester carbon. Early trials show that perennial grasses including kikuyu grass can increase soil carbon levels. Additional research is investigating tillage methods, crop rotation and other practical steps that may increase carbon sequestration. Research to date is showing that if farms adopt new tillage methods or use perennial grasses they could increase carbon absorption in the soil, generate carbon credits and improve the quality of the land.

Other research programs include the Reducing Emissions from Livestock Research Program. It is estimated that direct livestock emissions account for about 12 per cent of Australia's greenhouse gas emissions and account for nearly three-quarters of all agricultural emissions. Researchers are investigating whether livestock can be bred as low-methane emitters without compromising production. Another area of research is in the investigation of biological methods to reduce carbon emissions—for example, viruses to attack the microbes that generate methane emissions in the digestion process.

Thirdly, research is being conducted into feed supplements and the impact these may have on the carbon emitted by farm animals. Recent research at the Victorian Department of Primary Industries in Ellinbank shows that modifying the diet of dairy cows with feed supplements such as brewers' grains, a by-product of beer making, cuts cows' methane emissions. The research shows that, for every one per cent increase in fat in the diet of dairy cows, methane emissions are cut by 3.5 per cent. Lead researcher Peter Moate said that this was significant, as each year a dairy cow emitted approximately the same amount of greenhouse gases as a family motor car. He also advised that the fatty supplements did not affect the dairy cows' appetite or milk production.

The research being conducted into how to reduce carbon from farming and how to absorb carbon into land and vegetation is showing positive results, and this legislation has the potential to attract funding for implementing this research into rural communities, as the reduction in carbon will now generate saleable certificates.

The Carbon Farming Initiative will create an economic opportunity for Australian farmers and other land managers to generate accredited carbon credits which can be sold in Australia and allows Australian agriculture to take advantage of the growing international carbon market. The legislated scheme will allow sellers to deal directly with buyers and leverage the opportunities of the marketplace. Such a marketplace allows companies to invest in local land sector abatement through long-term contracts and partnerships with farmers and landholders. But, in order to drive this marketplace for carbon abatement schemes, we will need a price on carbon. A price on carbon emissions will create demand for carbon credits, as companies and entities—in fact, everyone involved in the process—will need to reduce their carbon emissions or purchase carbon credits to offset their emissions.

On 24 February this year, the government announced a framework for a carbon price due to take effect from 1 July 2012. This framework does not place any liability on agricultural, forestry or legacy waste emissions produced. However, the Carbon Farming Initiative will ensure that any project that reduces emissions on the land will be able to generate funding from the sale of carbon credits.

The Labor government is committed to taking action to deal with climate change. This legislation is an important part of that action and I commend these bills to the House.

See this speech in context