A new Climate Council report has revealed that 740 fossil fuel projects were approved under Australia’s Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation (EPBC) Act, underlining a ‘fundamental flaw’ in its failure to directly address climate change.
According to Climate Council, the Beating Around the Bush: How Australia’s National Environment Law Fails Climate and Nature report highlights the EPBC Act’s inability to protect Australia’s unique wildlife and natural places from climate change.
Climate Council CEO Amanda McKenzie said the approval of 740 fossil fuel projects under Australia’s environmental law, including coal mines, oil rigs, and gas extraction facilities, demonstrates a significant failure to protect natural habitats and species.
“Our understanding of the way climate change threatens the environment has changed dramatically in the 20 years since this law was written. But the direct protections offered by our national environment law simply haven’t kept up. As climate impacts worsen around us, it’s urgent we fix this,” McKenzie stated.
She added that the Australian Government’s promise to strengthen the law has been stalled, with more fossil fuel projects being waved through, including four since its inception.
“The Government can step in to genuinely protect our environment by strengthening the law to put climate at its heart,” she said.
According to Climate Council Chief Councilor Professor Tim Flannery, protecting nature is intertwined with addressing climate change, as the two are fundamentally interconnected.
“Climate change is making extreme events like droughts, bushfires, floods and storms more frequent, and much more severe. These extremes harm the natural environment we all depend on for healthy and safe lives by destroying habitats, killing insects, animals and plants and disrupting food and water resources,” Professor Flannery said.
He stated that unnatural disasters are causing landscapes to lose more opportunities for recovery, posing a risk to thousands of species and habitats if environmental protection is not taken seriously.
“That means fixing Australia’s national environment law so that it actively seeks to prevent more harmful climate change, while also protecting and promoting biodiversity. We need nature laws that genuinely protect nature by promoting a safe and liveable climate,” he added.
