Australia softens stance on international offsets

Government to consult on potential law change allowing big emitters to use offsets generated abroad to meet domestic limits

The Australian government has signalled it could reverse a ban on the use of international offsets by the country’s biggest industrial emitters to help meet domestic emissions limits. The softening of its stance comes as the centre-left Labor government plans a series of reforms aimed at getting on track to meet its Paris Agreement commitments, which would mean reducing emissions to 43pc below 2005 levels by 2030 and hitting net zero by 2050. Under current rules, large industrial emitters covered by Australia’s Safeguard Mechanism can only use domestic offsets, called Australian Carbon Credit Units, to keep within emissions limits imposed by the government. The Safeguard Mechanism, which has