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Parliamentary Questions


Question Without Notice No. 547 asked in the Legislative Council on 4 June 2019 by Hon Robin Scott

Parliament: 40 Session: 1

ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AUTHORITY — GREENHOUSE GAS EMISSIONS — GUIDELINES

547. Hon ROBIN SCOTT to the Minister for Environment:

(1) Can the minister confirm that on or about 13 March 2019, the Premier announced that the Environmental Protection Authority will rescind guidelines that required new projects producing more than 100 000 tonnes of carbon dioxide a year to pay to offset those emissions?

(2) Will the minister identify and table the study or research paper on which the EPA based those guidelines, which are now rescinded?

(3) What is the annual total of Western Australia's carbon dioxide emissions?

(4) By what fraction of a degree would the temperature of the earth be reduced if the now rescinded EPA guidelines were followed?

Hon STEPHEN DAWSON replied:

(1) Yes.

(2) The Environmental Protection Authority produced two greenhouse gas guidance documents, which have since been rescinded—an environmental factor guideline and technical guidance. I am advised by the EPA that these documents were standalone guidance and were not based on any individual study or research paper.

(3) The state and territory greenhouse gas inventories prepared as part of the Australian National Greenhouse Accounts provide the latest available published estimates of annual greenhouse gas emissions for Australian states and territories, which in 2016 was 82.2 million tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent for Western Australia.

(4) As climate change is a result of cumulative greenhouse gas emissions globally since industrialisation, it is not possible to attribute any particular temperature rise to any particular project or policy outcome.