There’ll be no mourning for Climate Active. The Albanese Government has today announced it will scrap the greenwashing scheme that allows coal and gas giants to call themselves “carbon neutral”, and the Climate Council is here for it.
Climate Council Senior Advisor Ben McLeod said: “We can’t offset our way out of the climate crisis, but Climate Active gave the green tick of approval to everything from polluting gas corporations to petrol at the bowser. It was always a distraction from the real job: cutting climate pollution at the source.
“More than four million Aussie families have put solar on their roofs and done their bit to cut climate pollution. Yet under our national industrial pollution law, Australia’s biggest polluters can still pay to pollute through offsets instead of cutting pollution at the source. With Climate Active headed to the scrap heap, it’s time for the Albanese Government to strengthen the Safeguard Mechanism and end the free ride for Australia’s biggest polluters.”
Climate Active is an Australian Government scheme that certified products and businesses that purchased offsets as ‘carbon neutral’. More than 100 companies have withdrawn from the scheme in recent years, amid growing acknowledgement that offsetting is not a genuine solution to climate change. The Albanese Government released a consultation paper this morning indicating that it intends to repeal the scheme.
