OECD Environmental Performance Reviews: Australia 2019

✍ Scribed by OECD

• Publisher: OECD Publishing
• Year: 2019
• Tongue: English
• Leaves: 252
• Category: Library

✦ Synopsis

Australia has managed to decouple economic growth from the main environmental pressures and has made impressive progress in expanding protected areas. However, it is one of the most resource- and carbon-intensive OECD countries, and the state of its biodiversity is poor and worsening. Advancing ...

✦ Table of Contents

Preface
Foreword
Reader’s guide
Abbreviations and acronyms
Basic statistics of Australia
Executive summary
Strengthening climate policy and improving resource efficiency are key priorities
Good practices are emerging but co-ordination between levels of government remains a challenge
Low-carbon development requires stronger price signals
Improving the status of threatened species calls for large-scale, co-ordinated efforts
Ongoing chemical management reforms can help protect human health and the environment
Assessment and recommendations
1. Environmental performance: trends and recent developments
Transition to a low-carbon and energy-efficient economy
Transition to efficient resource management
Management of natural assets
2. Environmental governance and management
Institutional framework
Regulatory framework
Compliance assurance
Environmental democracy
3. Towards green growth
Framework for sustainable development
Greening the system of taxes, charges and prices
Investing in the environment to promote green growth
Promoting eco-innovation
Addressing the socio-economic impact of the green growth transition
Environment, trade and development
4. Threatened species protection and sustainable use of biodiversity
Biodiversity status and trends
Strategic and institutional framework
Mainstreaming biodiversity across sectors
Protected areas
Other policy instruments
Financing biodiversity
5. Chemical management
Pressures on health and the environment from chemicals
Regulatory framework
Ongoing reforms
Remaining challenges
Notes
References
Annex 1.A. Actions taken to implement selected recommendations from the 2007 OECD environmental performance review of Australia
Part I. Progress towards sustainable development
Part I. Progress towards sustainable development
Chapter 1. Environmental performance: Trends and recent developments
1.1. Introduction
1.2. Main economic and social developments
1.2.1. Economic performance
1.2.2. Structure of the economy and employment
1.2.3. Population, well-being and quality of life
1.2.4. Progress towards the Sustainable Development Goals
1.3. Transition to a low-carbon and energy-efficient economy
1.3.1. Energy supply and demand
Main policies and measures
Energy supply and electricity generation
Renewable energy sources
Energy intensity
1.3.2. Transport
1.3.3. Climate change mitigation and adaptation
Emission profile and intensity
International targets and goals
Climate change mitigation policies
Climate change outlook and adaptation policy
1.3.4. Atmospheric emissions and air quality
Main policies and measures
Air emissions
Air quality
1.4. Transition to efficient resource management
1.4.1. Material consumption
1.4.2. Waste management
Main policies and measures
Trends
1.4.3. Agriculture
Main policies and measures
Trends
1.5. Managing the natural asset base
1.5.1. Physical context and land use
1.5.2. Biodiversity and ecosystems
Forests
Species
Protected areas
1.5.3. Fossil fuel and mineral resources
1.5.4. Water resource management
Water resources
Water quality
Notes
References
Annex 1.B. Examples of environmental policies
Chapter 2. Environmental governance and management
2.1. Introduction
2.2. Institutional framework for environmental governance
2.2.1. National institutions and horizontal co-ordination
2.2.2. Subnational institutions and vertical co-ordination
2.3. Regulatory requirements
2.3.1. Regulatory and policy evaluation
2.3.2. Key regulatory requirements
Air quality management
Water management
Waste management
2.3.3. Environmental impact assessment
2.3.4. Permitting
2.3.5. Land use planning
2.4. Compliance assurance
2.4.1. Environmental inspections and compliance monitoring
2.4.2. Enforcement tools
2.4.3. Environmental liability
2.4.4. Promotion of compliance and green practices
Voluntary agreements
Greening public procurement
Environmental certifications and labels
2.5. Promoting environmental democracy
2.5.1. Public participation in environmental decision making
2.5.2. Access to environmental information
2.5.3. Access to justice
2.5.4. Environmental education
Notes
References
Chapter 3. Towards green growth
3.1. Introduction
3.2. Framework for sustainable development
3.3. Greening the system of taxes, charges and prices
3.3.1. Overview
3.3.2. Taxes on energy products and carbon pricing
3.3.3. Other carbon pricing instruments
Emissions Reduction Fund and safeguard mechanism
National Energy Guarantee
3.3.4. Transport taxes and charges
Taxes on vehicles
Tax treatment of company cars and commuting expenses
Road pricing
3.3.5. Other economic instruments to limit resource use
Waste disposal levy and waste charges
Water trading
3.4. Removing subsidies potentially harmful to the environment
3.4.1. Support to fossil fuel production and consumption
3.4.2. Taxes on resource extraction
3.4.3. Support to agriculture
3.5. Investing in the environment to promote green growth
3.5.1. Environmental protection expenditure
3.5.2. Expenditure on urban water supply and sewerage
3.5.3. Investment in energy efficiency and renewable energy sources
Energy efficiency
Supporting renewable energy sources
3.5.4. Investment in sustainable transport
3.5.5. Greening investment practices in the corporate and financial sectors
Greening investment practices
Green bonds
3.6. Promoting eco-innovation
3.6.1. General innovation performance
3.6.2. Policy framework for eco-innovation
National level
State and territory level
3.6.3. Performance on eco-innovation
3.7. Labour and socio-economic implications of the green growth transition
3.7.1. Employment in the environmental goods and services sector
3.7.2. Ensuring an inclusive transition
3.8. Environment, trade and development
3.8.1. Mainstreaming environmental considerations in development co-operation
3.8.2. Trade and environment
Notes
References
Part II. Progress towards selected environmental objectives
Part II. Progress towards selected environmental objectives
Chapter 4. Threatened species protection and the sustainable use of biodiversity
4.1. Introduction
4.2. Pressures, state and trends
4.2.1. Status and trends
4.2.2. Information on the status and trends of ecosystems and species
4.2.3. Natural environments
Terrestrial ecosystems
Inland water ecosystems
Coastal and marine ecosystems
Flora and fauna
4.2.4. Pressures on biodiversity
Clearing, land use and harvesting
Water use, coastal pressures and hydrological changes to watercourses
Invasive species
Fire
Pollution
Climate change
4.3. Institutional arrangements, governance and mainstreaming
4.3.1. Strategic framework
Threatened Species Strategy
International commitments
4.3.2. Legislative framework
4.3.3. Institutional framework
Government
Regional and local authorities
Civil society
Private sector
Indigenous peoples
4.3.4. Mainstreaming biodiversity into sectoral/other policies
Agriculture
Fisheries and aquaculture
Forestry sector
Extractive industries
Tourism
Urban sprawl
Infrastructure
4.4. Instruments for threatened species protection and sustainable use of biodiversity
4.4.1. Protected areas
Protection of terrestrial and inland water areas
Protection of coastal and marine areas
4.4.2. Conservation programmes
National Landcare Program
Reef 2050 long-term sustainability plan
Recovery plans for threatened species and ecosystems
4.4.3. Economic instruments
Conservation covenants
Biodiversity offsets
Environmental Stewardship Program
Fishery fees, grants and quotas
National park fees
4.4.4. Subsidies harmful to biodiversity
4.4.5. Financing
4.5. Research, development and innovation
Notes
References
Chapter 5. Chemical management
5.1. Introduction
5.2. Pressures on health and the environment from chemicals
5.2.1. Chemical production and trends
5.2.2. Tracking chemical accidents and monitoring chemical emissions to determine pressures on human health and the environment
Reporting on chemical accidents
Major hazard facilities
Reporting to the National Pollutant Inventory
Remediation of contaminated sites
Monitoring under the Stockholm Convention
Monitoring ambient air quality data
5.3. Legal, policy and institutional framework, including domestic co-operation, for managing risks to health and the environment from chemicals
5.3.1. Chemical management: roles and responsibilities
5.3.2. Chemical assessment and registration programmes
The role of NICNAS
5.3.3. Co-ordination of the chemical management framework
5.3.4. Factors influencing decision making for chemical management
Role and input of stakeholders
Economic analysis
5.3.5. Resourcing of chemical management programmes
5.3.6. Performance measurement
Performance measurement framework for cost saving
Performance measurement framework for monitoring the impact of chemicals on the environment
5.4. International obligations and co-operation
5.4.1. Compliance with international conventions
Stockholm Convention on Persistent Organic Pollutants
Other international conventions
5.4.2. Implementation of the Globally Harmonised System of Classification and Labelling
5.5. Systematic investigation of chemicals
5.5.1. Assessment of chemicals
Agricultural chemicals
Industrial chemicals
5.5.2. Data requirements
Agricultural chemicals
Industrial chemicals
5.5.3. Use of assessments performed in other countries
5.6. Systematic risk management of chemicals
5.6.1. Implementation of risk management approaches
Industrial chemicals
The role of NICNAS in the context of risk management
Timelines associated with implementation of risk management measures
Pesticides
5.6.2. Compliance and enforcement activities regarding regulations on chemicals
5.6.3. Initiatives to promote research and development on sustainable or green chemistry
References