Climate Policy Engagement Analysis
Climate Policy Engagement Overview: The Chamber of Minerals and Energy of Western Australia (CME) is highly engaged on climate policy and displays largely negative positions on a number of specific climate-related regulations in Australia in 2022-2024. The association assumes a mix of negative and positive positions on the energy transition, supporting an increase in renewables while consistently advocating a sustained role for fossil gas.
Top-line Messaging on Climate Policy: CME demonstrates broadly positive top-line messaging on climate policy. The association articulated support for the 1.5°C goal of the Paris Agreement and for reducing greenhouse gas emissions to net zero by “no later than 2050” in October 2023 and November 2023 consultation submissions. While CME supported climate change regulation at the federal level in an October 2023 consultation submission, it has also consistently advocated against state-based regulation in a number of submissions between 2022-2024, citing issues of regulatory duplication, risks to competitiveness and increased costs.
Engagement with Climate-Related Regulations: CME appears to engage with mostly negative positions on climate-related policy. At the federal level, CME appeared to advocate for a number of provisions that risk weakening the climate ambition of reforms to Australia’s Safeguard Mechanism in September 2022, October 2022 and February 2023 consultation submissions. For example, the association appeared unsupportive of proposed baseline decline rates, supported retaining some headroom in the policy and appeared to support a delayed implementation of the reforms. CME also appeared to support former Prime Minister Scott Morrison’s promise to cease the implementation of any new carbon taxes on the mining industry should Morrison be re-elected in 2022, as reported in an April 2022 Mining Weekly article.
CME also appears to have engaged in oppositional advocacy at the state level. The association appeared unsupportive of Western Australia’s (WA’s) Climate Change Bill in an October 2023 consultation submission, calling for the WA Government to reassess the need to legislate a net zero by 2050 target. CME likewise appeared to oppose key components of proposed reforms to WA’s Environmental Protection Authority’s Environmental Factor Guideline, advocating against the introduction of scope 2 and scope 3 emissions thresholds in the Guidelines in a September 2022 submission.
Positioning on Energy Transition: CME adopts mixed positioning on the energy transition, advocating a continued role for fossil gas in the energy mix while also supporting a transition towards renewable energy. CME advocated for additional gas supply and development in Australia in its January 2023 Pre-Budget Submission, and also appeared to advocate in favor of fossil fuel subsidies in the same submission, calling for the Australian Government to retain the Fuel Tax Credit. The association likewise called for the Australian Government to support international investment in additional gas supply in its November 2023 submission to the Future Gas Strategy consultation paper. CME also appeared to engage in advocacy that risks weakening the climate ambition of WA’s Renewable Hydrogen Strategy in an October 2023 submission, calling for the Strategy to expand from focussing on strictly renewable hydrogen to include low-carbon hydrogen.
In contrast to this negative advocacy, CME supported the decarbonization of Australia’s economy in a January 2023 consultation submission, broadly supporting the clean energy investments included in the Powering the Regions and National Reconstruction Fund’s. CME’s CEO, Rebecca Tomkinson, also communicated support for a transition to renewable energy in a November 2023 press release. Tomkinson likewise advocated in favor of policy to aid the use of green hydrogen in hard-to-abate sectors in a December 2023 press release, stating support for Australia’s Hydrogen Headstart program.
InfluenceMap collects and assesses evidence of corporate climate policy engagement on a weekly basis, depending on the availability of information from each specific data source (for more information see our methodology). While this analysis flows through to the industry association's scores each week, the summary above is updated periodically. This summary was last updated in Q1 2024.