“It would be a $227 billion disaster for the Australian economy should the federal government use a ‘climate trigger’ as a bargaining chip to ensure the passage of its Nature Positive agenda,” said Daniel Wild, Deputy Executive Director of the Institute of Public Affairs.
With the federal government likely to need the support of the Greens and the Teals to pass its suite of Nature Positive legislation, new IPA research details the costs of a ‘climate trigger’ being added to the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999, something long sought after by the Greens.
A ‘climate trigger’ would require any project to be subject to a federal EPBC Act approval process should a certain level of annual carbon emissions be triggered. Based on the model within the Greens’ own private members bill, the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Amendment (Climate Trigger) Bill 2022, the research found:
- Introducing a ‘climate trigger’ would potentially prevent $227.1 billion of investment into the Australian economy.
- $134 billion of investment in future emission intensive projects would be cancelled immediately by the introduction of a ‘climate trigger’. A further $54 billion worth of investment could be delayed, and $39 billion would be at high risk.
- Western Australia would be the state most affected by a climate trigger, potentially losing $111.7 billion of investment. Western Australia will bear just over 49 percent of the cost of a climate trigger, with Queensland ($66.6 billion) and the Northern Territory ($18.8 billion) also highly impacted.
“Adding a ‘climate trigger’ to the EPBC Act will duplicate existing federal regulation, add significant costs to business and could prevent significant investments in major job creating projects,” said Mr Wild.
“This is an important moment for the Prime Minister, will he acquiesce to the demands of inner-city Teal and Greens activists, or stand up for the jobs and wealth creation in our vital resources sector?”
The threat of an economically disastrous ‘climate trigger’ follows IPA research that just one part of the federal government’s Nature Positive Plan, the establishment of Environment Protection Australia, would cost taxpayers approximately $1.8 billion per year.
“Australian taxpayers would rightfully be shocked that the federal government is prepared to spend almost $1.8 billion per year for yet another Canberra-based entity designed to make it harder to do business and create jobs in Australia,” said Mr Wild.
This new analysis follows previous IPA research which found that the federal government’s net zero agenda could potentially cancel up to 478,000 Australian jobs.
“The political class and inner-city elites who demand policies such as Nature Positive and net zero are never the ones who are most impacted by them. It is working Australians in rural and regional areas that get left with the bill and left behind,” said Mr Wild.
“Regional Australia is the lifeblood of our prosperity and cannot be sacrificed for a cheap political deal with inner-city Greens or Teals.”
To download the IPA’s research click here.
