Skip to main content
Home
  • The Legislative Assembly meets on 16/04/2024 (01:00 PM)
    Assembly sit 16/04/2024
  • The Legislative Council meets on 16/04/2024 (01:00 PM)
    Council sit 16/04/2024
  • The Public Administration meets on 08/04/2024 (10:00 AM)
    Committee meet 08/04/2024

Parliamentary Questions


Question Without Notice No. 1335 asked in the Legislative Council on 6 December 2018 by Hon Dr Steve Thomas

Parliament: 40 Session: 1

STATE FLEET — CARBON OFFSETS

1335. Hon Dr STEVE THOMAS to the minister representing the Minister for Finance:

I refer to the Tenders WA website and the $4.5 million contract awarded on 29 November 2018 for the provision of carbon offsets, and to my question without notice 1322 yesterday.

(1) Given that the contract commences at the end of November 2018 and the final expiry date is the end of December 2021, can the minister confirm that it is effectively a three-year contract?

(2) Given the minister stated in his answer yesterday that the annual emissions from the government fleet are estimated at 50 000 tonnes of CO2 per annum, is it accurate to estimate the total carbon offset contracted would be 150 000 tonnes and that under a $4.5 million contract, this equates to a contract cost of $30 a tonne of CO2?

(3) Does the contract include the cost of the carbon offsets themselves or does it cover only the costs of, and I quote, ''creating a panel''?

(4) Given the minister's answer yesterday that the value of the 50 000 tonnes of annual CO2 offsets, and I quote, ''can range from $30 000 to $900 000'' can the minister confirm that this equates to a value of 60c a tonne to $18 a tonne of CO2?

(5) Can the minister confirm therefore that unless the cost of the offsets themselves are included in the tender, the government is spending $30 a tonne on the administration of a carbon offset program to purchase carbon offsets for 60c to $18 a tonne and can he justify that, or that if the offsets themselves are included, the government is spending $12 to $29.40 a tonne of CO2 on administration?

Hon ALANNA CLOHESY replied:

I thank the honourable member for some notice of the question. I answer on behalf of the Minister for Environment, and the Minister for Finance has provided the following answer.

(1) Yes. The contract for provision of carbon offsets—request 2018/04988—is for an initial term of two years, with an option to extend the term for a further year.

(2) The contract accounts for the estimated 150 000 tonnes of offsets generated over the term of the contract. In addition, the contract includes a further 125 000 tonnes of offsets to be procured for previous fleet emissions. Under the estimated contract value, this equates to an average of $16 a tonne of CO2.

(3) The estimated contract value includes only the anticipated cost of emission offsets. The estimated contract value indicated on Tenders WA is the expected maximum contract value.

(4) Yes. Dependent on the market-based opportunities available at the time of purchase, the value could be within the range of 60c a tonne to $18 a tonne of CO2.

(5) As per (2) and (3) above, the government is not spending $30 a tonne on administration of its carbon offsets arrangement.