The purpose of this letter is to share research and analysis conducted by the Institute of Public Affairs (IPA) with the Portfolio Committee No. 7 – Planning and Environment (the committee) as it conducts its inquiry into the Climate Change (Net Zero Future) Bill 2023 (the bill).
The findings contained in this submission are based on wide-ranging analysis published in numerous IPA research reports across the past eighteen months regarding the economic and social consequences of net zero and other emission reduction policies.
The bill aims to enshrine into legislation the state government’s emission reduction targets to halve net greenhouse gas emissions by 2030 and net zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050. The bill will also establish the Net Zero Commission to monitor, review, and make recommendations to government ministers regarding progress towards these targets.
IPA analysis of the bill has resulted in the following findings:
- The bill will enshrine NSW’s emission reduction targets into legislation, which will put more than 138,000 jobs at risk of permanent cancellation, the vast majority of which will be in regional and rural NSW.
- The policy of net zero will increase household power prices through the removal of baseload power sources, and their replacement with intermittent renewables.
- The policy of net zero is eroding NSW’s energy security, and undermines the decision made by the state government to extend the life of the Eraring power station.
On the basis of these findings, the IPA recommends that the bill and the policy of net zero emissions by 2050 be abandoned, and that the NSW state government legislate a mechanism by which no baseload power station can be closed unless and until there is a like-for-like baseload replacement ready, such as coal or nuclear.
