Coalition’s last minute energy policy continues to unravel before its eyes

The federal Coalition’s energy policy moves continue to unravel before its eyes, with the latest blow coming from legal opinion that suggests that the government would need to get funding for any new fossil fuel generation through parliament if it is to have any legal force.

Minister for Energy, Angus Taylor (left), and Prime
Minister Scott Morrison talk at a press conference.

The opinion comes just days after the federal Coalition decided to pull its so-called “big stick” legislation after discovering that Labor and the independents would support an amendment by The Greens that would ban the government from funding new coal investments.

The “big stick” legislation is a lead-footed attempt by the government to try and “control” the energy market, drawing on some aspects of an ACCC report into market gaming and manipulation, but introducing others – such as a threat to force companies to sell assets – that the ACCC, and just about everyone else, says is a really bad idea.

Read the RenewEconomy story by Giles Parkinson - “Coalition’s last minute energy policy continues to unravel before its eyes.”

Company directors can be held legally liable for ignoring the risks from climate change

The recently ratified Paris Climate Agreement
 is a major incentive for companies
to take climate risks into account.

Company directors who don’t properly consider climate-related risks could be liable for breaching their duty of due care and diligence, a new legal opinion has found.

Although the alarm for business leaders has been sounding for some time, the release of the opinion by senior barristers and leading solicitors confirms the potential liability for Australian company directors.

Australian companies are particularly exposed to the physical, transition and liability risks posed by climate change. The Paris Climate Agreement, which comes into force today, brings the transition risks (and opportunities) forward, given the policy and business changes necessitated by the agreement’s commitment to a sustainable economy.

Read the piece on The Conversation by an Honorary Fellow in the School of Social and Political Sciences at the University of Melbourne, Travers McLeod, and a Professorial Fellow, also from the University of Melbourne, John Wiseman “Company directors can be held legally liable for ignoring the risks from climate change.”