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At its meeting of 10 February 2006, the Council of Australian Governments (CoAG) agreed on a Plan for Collaborative Action on Climate Change. Part of the Plan asks the Natural Resource Management Ministerial Council (NRM MC):
“To report on the potential for development of emissions intensity benchmarks in agriculture and associated environmental management systems.”
The approach taken in the discussion paper is to explore a model for how innovation may drive reductions in emissions through improving management practices. Given the context of the CoAG request, a focal point will, of course, be consideration of the most appropriate role for governments in the process.
Voluntary mechanisms will continue to be the key to driving innovation in management practices. New approaches to reducing greenhouse emissions intensity should not increase the regulatory burden facing farmers.
Responses are invited from all levels of government in Australia, peak industry bodies, and research organisations. The report from the NRM MC to CoAG provides an opportunity to develop a cooperative and consistent national approach to emissions benchmarking in Australian agriculture. The report will need to be delivered to CoAG before the end of 2006.
Leaders from Australian agriculture have previously called for consistent policies between jurisdictions to ensure a common national framework for emissions management (Government-Business Climate Change Dialogue, 2003). In a similar vein, the Report by the Agriculture and Food Policy Reference Group, Creating our Future (the Corish Report) released earlier this year recommends that governments and industry work in a coordinated way to support consistent approaches to policies and programmes affecting Australian agriculture. It proposes that such consistency is an ‘essential foundation of success’ for the future of Australian agriculture. The request from CoAG concerning the potential for developing emission intensity benchmarking therefore clearly builds on stated industry positions.
