Previous issues:

The NSW land and Environment Court recently rejected a challenge, brought by a Sydney law student, that the $800 redevelopment of the former CUB site was not environmentally sustainable. While the Court rejected the challenge, the case is one of the first ripples of the coming wave of green litigation.

A recent workshop held in Oslo discussed important issues about whether carbon capture and storage is the answer to meeting global emission reduction targets.

The NSW Government has made a commitment to reduce greenhouse gas emissions to 2000 levels by 2025, with the introduction of a mandatory Renewal Energy Target scheme. The scheme will impose a target on electricity retailers and penalties will be enforced for non compliance.

The proposed introduction of Australia's emission trading scheme has sparked much debate between the state and federal governments on whether emissions trading will attract capital gains tax and stamp duty, and how this will affect a company's tax structures.

The new National Greenhouse and Energy Reporting Bill 2007, which will introduce mandatory measuring and reporting of greenhouse gas emissions, provides the first major plank of Australia's emission trading scheme. The Bill was introduced amidst pressure from the state and territory governments to establish a mandatory reporting scheme, which would be capable of reducing greenhouse emissions.

A week ago, Premier Peter Beattie announced Queensland's new climate change strategy, ClimateSmart 2050, its $414 million investment in a 'long term strategy to secure a clean energy future for the State based on investing in the development and deployment of clean coal technologies'. This article distils the key elements of the policy and outlines some of the key challenges to implementing it.

The Prime Ministerial Task Group Report on Emissions Trading has important implications for businesses that are intending to become, or claim to be, 'carbon neutral'. This article examines the challenges in defining carbon neutrality and what businesses can and are doing to attain this status. It also explores the significant risks of claiming carbon neutrality and how to manage them.

The Prime Ministerial Task Group Report on Emissions Trading released on 1 June 2007 provides a framework for the Federal Government to implement a national emissions trading scheme as a key aspect of its climate change response. This article examines the report's key findings including the global context for such a scheme, key design features and necessary preparations for its introduction.

This article summarises the key elements of various existing and proposed global emissions schemes in Australia, the EU, UK, US, Canada and Japan.

In this edition of Climate Space we focus on key terms and concepts associated with emissions trading. Future editions will expand the glossary of terms.

The Chicago Climate Exchange is the world’s first greenhouse gas emission registry, reduction and trading system for all six GHGs. It is a self-governing exchange whose members participate in a voluntary but legally binding pilot program.

The New South Wales Greenhouse Gas Abatement Certificate (NGAC) scheme seeks to directly reduce greenhouse gas emissions associated with the production and use of electricity. The NGAC scheme imposes mandatory GHG benchmarks on 'benchmark participants' in NSW, which includes electricity retailers as well as certain consumers and generators.

On 4 May 2007, the UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change formally approved the latest report prepared by its Working Group III, 'Climate Change 2007: Mitigation of Climate Change'. The report specifically deals with strategies for mitigating the effects of climate change, including greater use of renewable energies, exploring more efficient methods of using energy, carbon emissions tariffs and geosequestration.

As the first OECD country to see the sun rise each day, New Zealand, with its ‘clean green’ reputation and skills in share and currency markets, is in a strong position as a base for carbon trading. While work continues on developing a mandatory cap and trade scheme, the NZ government is currently endorsing the establishment of private volunteer trading schemes, such as the the NZX carbon trading market.

No existing commonwealth or state legislative regime comprehensively deals with the range of issues raised by long-term large-scale geosequestration activities. To be effective, any future regulatory regime will need to address key issues relating to jurisdiction, land ownership and usage rights, native title and cultural heritage, planning laws, water regulation, taxation, and third party access rights.