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NATIONAL

Environment Minister Murray Watt has told Senate Estimates he has received "a very positive response" from every state and territory regarding the negotiation of EPBC assessment and approval agreements, with the exception of Queensland.

Queensland is not interested in negotiating a bilateral agreement until a Queensland Productivity Commission inquiry into the EPBC reforms has concluded, the Minister said.

"We've got WA committing to doing one this year. We've got Queensland inventing a Productivity Commission inquiry to delay signing an agreement for, probably, a couple of years," the Minister said.

A federal official told the hearing that the process of negotiating bilateral agreements involves "a benchmarking of their legislation, policies and programs against the updated EPBC Act and the standards".

Despite the antagonism between the federal and Queensland governments over the EPBC reforms, the two governments are cooperating in testing a key new tool introduced through the reforms. See the Queensland section below.

Quizzed by Liberal Senator Andrew Bragg about why fossil projects aren't eligible for fast-track EPBC assessment, Minister Watt said he didn't see it as a major problem for gas projects.

"There are still opportunities for gas projects to have faster decision-making and faster approvals, in particular through the bilateral agreements we hope to reach with state and territory governments," he said.

"The other thing I do want to say is that at the request of the gas industry we retained a pathway known as the assessment on preliminary documentation, which originally was going to be removed," the Minister said.

"If you look at the first version of the Bill, that was going to be removed," he said.

"At the request of the gas industry we retained that, so my point generally is that there are processes in place for all projects to be fast-tracked, whatever they are, in particular through bilateral agreements."

Environment officials told Senate Estimates that they expect to have four National Environmental Standards finalised by July.

Two of them - a standard on Matters of National Environmental Significance and a standard on Offsets - have already been released for public comment.

Drafts of the other two - on community engagement and data and information - will be released shortly.

Environment Minister Murray Watt said a separate First Nations engagement standard would not be ready in July, partly because of related reforms to cultural heritage legislation.

Officials also told Senate Estimates that two offset calculators are under development, as part of implementing the EPBC Act reforms.

"There's the offset calculator for proponents if they're delivering an offset themselves," an official said.

"Then there is a second calculator that's being developed for the Restoration Contributions Holder. That's where proponents are paying into a fund to deliver an offset."

There are currently 156 renewable projects in the EPBC assessment pipeline, along with 59 coal, gas and oil projects, and 49 critical minerals projects, officials told the Estimates hearing.

For renewables, the average approval time is 131 weeks. For fossil fuels - coal, gas and oil - the average approval timeframes across 30 projects is 163 weeks. 

"Twelve of the 15 coal stations in the NEM experienced an unplanned outage in the fourth quarter of 2025, which translates to 15% of the coal capacity being offline during the quarter due to an unplanned outage," an official told Senate Estimates.

"At one level, it's a little bit like my 20-year-old Holden Commodore. I might try and take it to Sydney. A lot of the time it'll get me there, but, increasingly, I can't fully rely on it," the official said.

"It's entirely possible that it may break down on the way or possibly not be the most safe way of getting there anymore."

Environment officials told Estimates that the report of an in-house review of the Recycling and Waste Reduction Act, which was initially supposed to be completed early last year, will go to the Minister "imminently".

The official added that later this year a draft intergovernmental agreement would go to a meeting of environment ministers, which would allow product stewardship agreements in different jurisdictions to be harmonised.

Federal, state and territory officials have already held one meeting on the proposed agreement, he said.

The intergovernmental agreement would initially target packaging and batteries, the official added.

Environment ministers are also likely to consider a circular economy roadmap in the next few months, the official said.

In the nine months to 31 March this year, the CEFC made a record $6.4 billion in new investment commitments via 34 transactions, unlocking $12.5 billion in total transaction value, its CEO, Ian Learmonth, told Senate Estimates.

"These projects spanned renewable energy, transmission, transport, natural capital infrastructure, and property and household electrification on a scale unmatched in any previous reporting period," he said.

"We made our largest ever single investment over this time, an estimated $3.8 billion, through the Rewiring the Nation Fund, for Marinus Link," Learmonth added.

"We broke the 2025 wind drought with $247 million in senior debt commitments, enabling three new wind farms to commence construction," he said. "Loans through our Household Energy Upgrades Fund surged 158% over that period."

In other Estimates news:

• the pre-COP31 leaders meeting in Tuvalu is expected to take place on October 5 and 6.
• although Queensland didn't endorse moving towards the introduction of an Electricity Services Entry Mechanism (ESEM), the state is participating in working groups to develop it.
• Climate Change Authority Chair Matt Kean noted that the recently demolished Liddell power station had to be restarted 31 times in 2022 because of problems, was operating at half its nameplate capacity, and posed a safety risk to workers.
• Australian Energy Regulator Chair Claire Savage noted that in the first quarter of this calendar year, compared to first quarter 2025, the overall average capacity of coal outages increased by 467MW, equivalent to a 23% increase. Of that, 463MW was from Queensland.

Australia's clean energy transition broke multiple records in 2025, with renewables generating almost half of the nation's electricity and battery storage capacity tripling, according to the Clean Energy Council's latest Clean Energy Australia report.

However, the Council warns that investment in new large-scale wind and solar has fallen to one of its lowest levels in a decade, "threatening to stall momentum, as energy demand continues to rise and coal-fired power increasingly fails".

"Renewables are supplying nearly half our electricity; we are now a top-three global player in big battery storage; and households are taking control of their own power bills in record numbers," said Clean Energy Council CEO Jackie Trad.

"But we need to be honest about where we are, and where we need to be. The number that demands attention is going in the wrong direction," Trad said. "Financial commitments for large-scale wind and solar is at a decade low. That is a gap we must close."

The Clean Energy Council is calling for :

• Improved Capacity Investment Scheme tender processes, with fixed commitments to transmission connection timelines.
• Faster environmental assessments and approvals.
• Efforts to strengthen community trust, by raising social performance standards, demonstrating the economic contributions of the sector to regional economies, and better countering the misinformation that is delaying projects.
• Better integration of consumer energy resources.

The federal government has released the latest Quarterly Update of Australia's National Greenhouse Gas Inventory.

The inventory shows Australia's emissions have fallen by 9.7 million tonnes over the past year, resulting in emissions for the year to December 2025 being 2.1% lower than the previous year.

Lower coal, gas and petrol use resulted in electricity emissions falling by 3.8%, and transport emissions fell by 0.6%.

The results suggest Australia's overall transport emissions may have peaked as more motorists choose EVs, Climate and Energy Minister Chris Bowen said.

"EVs have grown from less than 4% of new light vehicle sales in 2022 to more than 20% in the first four months of 2026," the Minister said.

In 2025, battery discharge in the NEM almost tripled compared to 2024, reducing gas-powered generation during evening peaks by 30%, he added.

A second project has been registered under Australia's Nature Repair Market.

Located roughly 70km inland of Byron Bay in Doon Doon, NSW, the project aims to restore 19.9 hectares of cleared land.

The project will restore wet sclerophyll forest and rainforest ecosystems using the Nature Repair Market's Replanting native forest and woodland ecosystems method.

Planting areas will connect existing bushland on the property with the adjoining Nightcap National Park, strengthening wildlife corridors.

The proponent will combine nature repair activities with a carbon abatement project under the Australian Carbon Credit Unit reforestation method.

Woolworths has now re-introduced soft plastics recycling at more than 700 Woolworths stores across five states, after gradually expanding a trial that started in Victoria in early 2024.

Woolworths is partnering with recycling companies saveBOARD, iQRenew, and Plascrete to deliver the renewed soft plastics recycling program.

ARENA has awarded a $13.6 million grant to Amber Electric to expand a pilot project that allows EV owners to use their cars as home batteries on wheels.

Amber Electric will enrol another 950 customers in its vehicle-to-grid pilot program and more than 1,000 in its smart charging program, which initially received a $3.2 million ARENA grant.

The Amber technology can automatically charge EVs when wholesale electricity prices are low and when rooftop solar generation is abundant.

This technology can be paired with V2G-capable cars and compatible chargers to power an EV driver's home. Drivers can also choose to sell electricity to the energy grid when it's needed most.

International energy and climate finance expert Michael Liebreich will speak at the National Press Club tomorrow.

QUEENSLAND

The Queensland Productivity Commission has issued a call for submissions to its inquiry into the impact of the 2025 reforms to the federal EPBC Act.

The Commission is seeking views on the environmental impacts of the reforms, as well as their economic impacts. In addition, it asks about environmental offsets.

The Commission will release an interim report in November, and will submit its final report by next April.

The federal and Queensland governments have started consultation on pilot bioregional guidance plans in two Queensland locations.

Bioregional guidance plans are key tools introduced through the reformed federal EPBC Act.

They identify areas of higher and lower environmental value in a specific region, which enables better and faster decisions about areas that should be protected or developed.

The pilot guidance plans focus on: 

• the Brigalow Belt North – to support wind farm developments in the Collinsville area in Northern Queensland
• the Gulf Plains – to support minerals mining in the Julia Creek and Richmond area of North-Western Queensland 

"The guidance plans will support stronger environmental protections, faster and simpler approval processes for business, and more transparency and integrity around decision making," said federal Environment Minister Murray Watt.

"They include improved information on nationally protected matters, strategic planning that has considered present and future threats in the region, and advice on how to manage impacts and opportunities to protect and restore nature."

Queensland Minister for the Environment and Tourism Andrew Powell said the release of the draft bioregional plans "will give proponents better information upfront about environmental values and assessment considerations, helping to reduce uncertainty and support more informed project design". 

"Queensland has strong environmental standards, and these first-of-their-kind draft plans are about making the approvals landscape clearer and easier to navigate while maintaining those protections," Powell said.

NSW

Statutory development - renewable fuel. The NSW government has introduced the Electricity Supply Amendment (Renewable Fuel Scheme) Bill, which aims to accelerate the development of renewable fuels industry in the state.

The Bill would amend the design of the state's existing Renewable Fuel Scheme, which was initially intended just to incentivise the production of green hydrogen, by requiring gas retailers to annually buy and surrender green hydrogen certificates.

The Bill would amend the scheme so that it operates with two renewable fuel targets - an early-mover green hydrogen target and a mixed fuel target for renewable methane and green hydrogen.

The first target will be an early-mover hydrogen target that will apply from 2027 to 2037 and has a $17.50 penalty rate. It increases to a maximum of one petajoule per year in 2030.

The second target will be a mixed-fuel target to support renewable methane and green hydrogen, which will apply from 2028 to 2044 and have a lower penalty rate of $10.50. It increases to a maximum of eight petajoules per year in 2038.

"By expanding the scheme to include renewable methane, the bill accelerates the deployment of a commercially mature, low-cost renewable gas, enabling earlier emissions reductions in hard‑to-abate industries," Customer Service and Digital Government Minister Jihad Dib, told Parliament.

The Minister added that the government will consult with industry later this year on how the Renewable Fuel Scheme could expand to support low-carbon liquid fuels like biodiesel, renewable diesel and sustainable aviation fuel.

In addition to amending the Renewable Fuel Scheme, the NSW government recently announced $40 million in grant funding to support the commercial deployment of renewable methane production facilities.

To be eligible for a grant, projects need to be injecting renewable methane into the New South Wales gas network by 2030.

Statutory development - renewable energy. A government Bill to speed the rollout of key renewable energy projects has passed the Legislative Assembly, despite being opposed by the Coalition.

The Bill passed after the government accepted an amendment proposed by independent Dr Joe McGirr, which requires that the Bill be reviewed in a year's time.

The Energy Legislation Amendment (Prioritising Renewable Energy) Bill would allow the Planning Minister to fast-track priority renewables and gas firming projects as state significant infrastructure, without having to wait on Independent Planning Commission advice.

The Bill is now before the Legislative Council.

The NSW Department of Primary Industries and Regional Development has won the Planning Institute of Australia Climate Change and Resilience National Award for Planning Excellence, for its Climate Vulnerability Assessment project.

Over eight years, the CVA project assessed climate change risks across 51 commodities and biosecurity risks across New South Wales between now and 2050.

Transcript is now available of the latest hearing of a NSW parliamentary committee inquiry into fossil fuel emissions.

VICTORIA

Minister for Planning Sonya Kilkenny has recently approved four clean energy projects, worth a total of $2.4 billion, through the state's fast-track Development Facilitation Program.

The three battery projects will add enough battery storage to power more than half a million homes during peak demand, the Minister said.

The latest approvals are:

• the $1.3 billion Morwell grid battery in the Latrobe Valley – powering 344,000 homes during peak demand.
• the $600 million Nine Mile grid battery near Geelong – Stages 1 and 2 powering 172,000 homes during peak demand.
• the $388 million Gelliondale wind farm in Gippsland – which will generate enough energy for 49,000 homes annually, and includes battery storage for 14,000 homes during peak demand.
• the $130 million Chivers Road grid battery in Glenrowan – which will power 34,500 homes during peak demand.

Projects on the DFP pathway can't be challenged via VCAT.

"These approvals mean more than 30 projects worth $11 billion have been approved through the DFP over the past two years – accelerating cleaner, cheaper energy," Kilkenny said.

"Together they have capacity to power 800,000 homes each year and battery storage to power 2.6 million homes during evening peaks," the Minister said.

These projects will create more than 3,800 jobs across construction and operations, she added.

Kilkenny noted that the Coalition has committed to making clean energy projects ineligible for the DFP.

"Before the DFP, more than one in five energy applications were delayed at VCAT," the Minister noted.

VicGrid has released its draft 2026 Victorian Transmission Plan Guidelines.

Once finalised, the guidelines will guide the development of the next state transmission plan, which will take a 25-year view of the state's transmission and renewable energy needs. 

EPA Victoria has issued licences to Viva Energy for its gas terminal project.

The project comprises a gas terminal consisting of a floating storage and regasification unit (FSRU), located off the pier next to its Geelong refinery.

The Victorian government-owned SEC has launched Easy Electric SEC, a one-stop-shop designed to help Victorian households switch from gas to electric appliances.

The digital platform lets users explore electric options, estimate costs and savings and ask for quotes from SEC-endorsed suppliers and installers.

Meanwhile, Stan Krpan, CEO of Solar Victoria, has announced that the Solar Homes program has now provided 500,000 rebates and interest free loans.

That includes support for more than 340,000 Solar PV systems across Victorian homes, which are generating 2.5GW of clean energy each day.

According to Krpan, Victorians are saving $1 billion a year as a result of Solar Homes support.

TASMANIA

Statutory development. The Tasmanian government has released draft Threatened Species Protection Regulations, which are different in only minor aspects from the existing regulations.

In addition, the state government has released draft noise pollution regulations, which are also similar to the current regulations.

SOUTH AUSTRALIA

The first tender round in South Australia's first Firm Energy Reliability Mechanism (SA FERM) resulted in six battery energy storage projects receiving offers of FERM agreements.

The six batteries will collectively provide a committed output capacity of 517 MW/ 4,136MWh, which is the capacity they must be able to dispatch continuously for at least eight hours.     

The FERM agreements are long-term contracts designed by the South Australian Government that provide proponents with revenue certainty, to support investment in long-duration firm capacity.

The contracts also require projects to deliver reliable, dispatchable energy during periods of system stress.

In combination, the six projects will add more than four times the capacity of the world's first grid-scale battery, a Tesla battery that was installed in Hornsdale, South Australia, in 2017.

WESTERN AUSTRALIA

The Western Australian government has opened stage two of the Kalgoorlie Vanadium Battery Expression of interest process, with proposals to be submitted by July 20.

The successful bidder will receive $150 million towards the construction of a 50MW/500MWh battery.

NORTHERN TERRITORY

The Arafura Rare Earths Nolans project has been declared the first Significant Project under the Northern Territory's Territory Coordinator Act.

Chief Minister Lia Finocchiaro said the $1.6 billion critical minerals project is one of the most advanced rare earths projects in the world "and will become the first integrated rare earths mine and processing facility of its kind in Australia".

"As the largest mining investment in Territory history, Nolans will create jobs, support local businesses and attract investment, while helping Australia and its allies secure reliable supplies of critical minerals."

Nolans was identified as one of only two priority projects under the US-Australia Critical Minerals Framework.

IDEAS, ADVOCACY, GUIDANCE, AND INNOVATION

Think tank Climateworks has released a major report on Australia's land use future, based on spatial scenario modelling carried out with Deakin University.

"Australia can restore biodiversity and reduce and remove emissions – all while maintaining a thriving agriculture sector," Climateworks says. 

"Adopting environmental planting across 11.6 million hectares could sequester 109 million tonnes of carbon emissions per year by 2050," the report says.

"Including riparian plantings alongside other sequestration sources sees total sequestration reaching 127 million tonnes by 2050."

There is a "missing middle" in Australia's current state and national decarbonisation policy, says a new report from think tank Common Capital.

"There are around 8,000 small to medium industrial gas customers across food and beverage, pulp, paper and paperboard manufacturing and a range of other smaller manufacturing sectors that could cost-effectively electrify today with the right mix of state and national policy support," the report says.

The report concludes that electrification of process heat for Australia's small to medium industrial gas customers represents a 2.8 Mt CO₂e annual abatement opportunity that is not currently targeted by national or state policies.

It also concludes there are a range of commercially ready electric technologies that could be retrofitted in existing industrial facilities without major plant rectification work.

The report recommends measures including amending energy efficiency schemes in NSW and Victoria, so that the schemes contain industrial energy sub-targets.

It notes that nearly all the facilities would still not be covered by the Safeguard Mechanism, even if the threshold was lowered to 25,000 tonnes per year.

The Biodiversity Council has released a report on the nature impacts generated by Australia's 200 largest publicly listed companies.

The report identifies the industries and individual companies with the most harmful impacts on nature through water use, greenhouse gas emissions, land clearing, and pollution.

The analysis highlights that some ASX200 corporations, such as Coles, appear to have a lower impact at first glance, but may have a bigger impact than even mining giants, once total supply chain impacts are considered.

The new report is the first to identify which individual Australian companies are likely to come under close scrutiny if mandatory nature risk reporting is introduced.

The Taskforce on Inequality and Social-Related Financial Disclosures has released a beta version of a disclosure framework that is designed to help businesses identify and disclose their impacts on people.

The Taskforce is co-chaired by Sharan Burrow, a former ACTU President and General Secretary of the International Trade Union Conference.

"Workers and communities are central to economic resilience and shared prosperity," Burrow said.

"By improving visibility on how business activities affect people, their rights and exacerbate or mitigate inequalities - and how those dynamics affect markets and performance - this framework can help strengthen accountability and support more stable and inclusive economic outcomes."

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