Discourses delaying decarbonisation: A policy analysis of Australian Net Zero policies using Environmental Political Thought and Post Keynesian Economics

Abstract

As the new government of Australia, the Australian Labor Party (ALP) proclaimed its goal to divert Australia away from climate inaction fostered by the Liberal National Party (LNP), by legislating the Net Zero target to reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions by 43% below 2005 levels by 2030. The most prominent part of the Net Zero policy initiative is the Safeguard Mechanism (SM) which allows corporations to ‘cancel out’ emissions by purchasing carbon credits. Although ALP positions itself as climate conscious, the SM is consistently contested as an ineffective climate policy in the media and by non-governmental actors. This thesis investigates whether Australia can meet the Net Zero target with the SM as its primary climate policy. An effective climate policy is more than a tool to reduce emissions, but one that intends to decarbonise Australia, meaning disrupting carbon lock-in and removing fossil fuels from the energy and economic systems. Through the lenses of Environmental Political Thought and Post Keynesian Economics, it examines whether the liberal democratic structure and neoliberal policy framework is suitable to devise climate policies. It finds that the SM is a product of the entrenchment of fossil fuels corporations within Australia’s political and economic structures, subduing any discourse surrounding climate action.