The Greens have introduced laws in Victoria to make coal and gas companies legally liable for their share of damage from the climate crisis, granting victims of extreme bushfires, heatwaves and storms the right to sue for financial damages and even force polluting facilities to reduce emissions or shut down entirely.
Leader of the Victorian Greens Ellen Sandell says that it’s fundamentally unfair that everyday communities bear the costs of climate disasters like rising sea levels, the Black Summer bushfires, or recent glacial flooding in Nepal, while private coal and gas giants continue to rake in billions in profits making the crisis worse with more fossil fuel projects.
The Victorian Greens’ ‘Liability for Climate Change Damage (Make Polluters Pay) Bill 2026’ addresses this injustice by imposing liability for climate change damage on major emitters of greenhouse gases in Victoria.
To do this at a state level, the Bill would create a new duty of care on major fossil fuel producers and owners and operators of coal-fired power plants whose total emissions have been greater than 1 million tonnes in any 12-month period since 1 September 1990 (when the first Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change report was released, after which all emitters should have known the consequences of their pollution).
Courts would then have the ability to impose financial damages – based on how much their historic emissions contributed to climate change damage – as well as injunctions forcing facilities to reduce their emissions, stop emitting entirely, and even stop new polluting projects from going ahead.
The Victorian Greens will also double coal and gas royalties and cancel all subsidies and tax exemptions for fossil fuel projects. This would fund $3000 Greens Power voucher for renters and homeowners to slash energy bills and make their homes climate resilient with solar, batteries, insulation, and efficient electric products.
The Greens have a costed plan to transition out of coal and gas and replace them with publicly-owned renewables, while ending the corporate stranglehold we’re seeing in governments by banning donations from fossil fuel corporations.
As stated by the Leader of the Victorian Greens, Ellen Sandell:
“It is fundamentally unfair that Victorians have to bear the cost of climate disasters like fires and floods alone, while the coal and gas giants behind the crisis continue to reap in billions in profits.
“More extreme bushfires, heatwaves and storms are already costing Victorians billions of dollars every year. Rising sea levels will cost coastal communities at least $167 billion by 2100 – that’s $2.3 billion per year!”
