Very few areas of law are more changeable and subject to the political tides as climate change law. A range of Federal and State regulatory schemes and policies relating to greenhouse emissions have been implemented in recent years, some economy-wide and some industry-specific, and some more permane ...

Climate change impacts have for many years been accepted as a relevant consideration in the assessment of planning and environmental applications in Australia. Until recently, the focus of consent authorities has been primarily on the direct greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions of a project from owned and ...

The National Greenhouse and Energy Reporting (NGER) scheme requires some companies to account for the scope 1 and scope 2 emissions they are responsible for. Scope 1 emissions are direct emissions for which a company is responsible, whilst scope 2 emissions are indirect emissions from the purchase o ...

State and territory governments are increasingly willing to take action separate to the Federal Government to address climate change through state schemes, policies and, in some cases, legislation. This represents a change in approach at the state and territory level over the past decade, as climate ...

A number of states and territories have established schemes that provide electricity users with incentives to implement energy saving measures and which require electricity retailers to achieve energy saving targets. ...

Australia's 'green finance' market continues to grow steadily in response to global environmental challenges and to support sustainable development. Innovative financial products continue to be developed to direct capital towards green projects and to promote sustainability causes or ESG-related per ...

The term 'soft law' refers to rules, principles or guidelines that are not themselves legally binding, but nonetheless play an important role in promoting compliance with certain standards of behaviour. Rules of 'soft law' can often act as a precursor to the emergence of 'hard law'. ...

There is a growing trend for legal action against corporates, particularly energy companies and financial firms. Many commentators, including former Chief Justice French, have predicted a continued rise in climate change litigation in Australia. ...

In December 2015, the parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (the UNFCCC) adopted a landmark agreement to combat climate change and to take steps to shift their economies towards a sustainable, low carbon future (the Paris Agreement). ...

We summarise the 10 (or so) key things you need to know about the reforms proposed in the Environmental Protection Amendment Bill 2020 (WA). ...