A sudden and major change in the committee overseeing Australia’s emissions reductions has seen the departure of three members, including the committee chairman, pave the way for Labor to report to the important committee.
Key points:
- They have resigned from three Coalition appointments to the ERAC
- The ABC has confirmed that two of the three were asked to resign
- The ERAC determines the activities considered as valid ways to produce carbon credits
A government spokesman has confirmed that three members of the Clean Energy Regulator’s (CER) Emissions Reduction Guarantee Committee (ERAC) – all controversially appointed by the Coalition – have resigned.
The revelation follows a series of ABC reports exposing allegations that valuable carbon credits were handed over to companies for emission reductions that never occurred, as well as former committee chairman Andrew Macintosh who whistled what he called a “rort.”
Economist Brian Fisher, former mining lobby David Byers and cement industry lobby Margie Thomson have resigned from their posts at ERAC.
Byers was the chairman of the committee, with his departure leaving the post vacant.
The ABC can confirm that both Byers and Dr. Fisher were asked to resign from the committee this week.
“The minister can confirm that he has received and accepted the resignations of three ERAC members,” a spokesman for Climate Change and Energy Minister Chris Bowen said on Thursday.
“The minister hopes to appoint new members of the commission in due course.”
What is the ERAC and who were the Coalition appointments?
The ERAC determines the activities considered as valid ways to produce carbon credits.
These credits are bought by the government through a reverse auction or sold in a private market.
After Labor won the election, Mr. Bowen commissioned a review of how carbon credits were issued, and is expected to report on the issue later this year.
Space to play or pause, M to mute, left and right arrows to search, up and down arrows for volume. Clock duration: 12 minutes 3 seconds12 m Questions raised about the integrity of carbon offset schemes.
Dr Fisher was closely linked to the Coalition after producing a model on which the then government relied to argue that Labor’s climate policies in 2019 would put a “demolition ball” on the economy.
He also worked for several fossil fuel companies, as well as for the mining pressure group, the Minerals Council of Australia.
Byers was appointed to chair ERAC by former emissions reduction minister Angus Taylor in 2021.
He is a former senior executive of the Australian Minerals Council, BHP and the Australian Petroleum Production and Exploration Association.
Mrs. Thomson was another Coalition appointment and works for the top cement industry body, the Cement Industry Federation.
Former mining lobby David Byers was named ERAC president last year. (ABC News: Chris Le Page)
Mrs Thomson and Mr Byers had been accused of conflicts of interest, which the Australian Institute argued made their positions untenable, allegations they denied.
The possibility of conflicts of interest meant that, in some cases, Mr. Byers and Mrs. Thomson would stay out of certain discussions.
Byers at the time said he was “satisfied that any possible conflict was properly managed by the ERAC.”
Ms Thomson told ABC that the only reason she resigned was to spend more time caring for her elderly parents.
“I looked at everything that was going on politically and I have very important things in my personal life and I had to get rid of things that take up a lot of time,” he said.
“Step towards confidence”
Part of the money spent by the Emissions Reduction Fund goes to “avoided deforestation,” which aims to pay landowners to avoid carrying out the planned cleanup.
But the Australian Institute’s analysis last year found that the fund had paid for so much “avoided” land clearing that most could not have occurred.
“It’s hard to think that there are even enough excavators in New South Wales to keep up with the inflated clean-up rates behind this methodology,” said Richie Merzian of the Australian Institute at the time. .
Professor Macintosh earlier this year told the ABC that “somewhere in the order of 70 to 80 percent of the credits that have been issued have remarkably low integrity.”
“Payments are being made to people not to cut down forests that have never been cut down, to grow forests that are already there, to grow forests in places that will never sustain permanent forests,” he said.
Professor Macintosh’s allegations were rejected by the CER, which produced a model that he said supported his methods.
Polly Hemming of The Australia Institute said: “It is unclear how the appointments of individuals with such clear industry interests could have been made without regard to the legislation.”
“We hope this is a step towards restoring confidence and credibility in the governance of Australia’s carbon credit system.”