Tuesday,2 August 2022

Victorian energy upgrades program

That this house:

(1) notes that:

(a) the Victorian energy upgrades program (the program), previously the Victorian energy efficiency target (VEET) scheme, has set a target of 6.7 million tonnes of carbon dioxide (CO₂) equivalent in 2022, increasing to 7.3 million tonnes in 2025;

(b) the government and the Victorian Liberal Party have committed to a 50 per cent reduction in CO₂ emissions below 2005 levels of 128 million tonnes by 2030;

(c) the 28 million tonnes of energy efficiency certificates that energy retailers will be required to purchase between 2022 and 2025 make up a significant component of Victoria’s strategy for emissions reduction;

(d) recent issues with the program, such as the refrigerated cabinets being dumped outside businesses earlier this year and the two businesses that were referred to Victoria Police in early 2021, demonstrate that we cannot be certain that claimed carbon emission reductions have actually occurred;

(2) supports the Auditor-General examining:

(a) whether the carbon savings accounted for via the program actually reflect real carbon emission reductions;

(b) if the methodology used for calculating carbon emission reductions is appropriate and was applied uniformly;

(c) whether the program is robust enough to withstand a significant increase in usage, as will be required by higher carbon emission reduction targets; and

(d) any other related matters.

There was a lot of media a couple of months ago when enthusiastic companies did their best to off-load refrigerators to various businesses to secure energy efficiency certificates. This was all part of the Victorian energy efficiency target scheme, now referred to as the Victorian energy upgrades program. The scheme is supposed to form part of Victoria’s climate change strategy by creating a market for energy efficiency certificates which must be purchased by energy retailers and surrendered to the Essential Services Commission. People may be more familiar with this scheme from people knocking on their door to offer to change their light bulbs or supply chimney pillows to stop drafts or those very odd smart power boards that I suspect most people actually just threw in the bin as they did not really work very well.

This scheme has ambitious targets for the reduction of CO₂ emissions. In fact, if you look at the targets up to 2025 and assume that the scheme continues to operate at this scale, it would achieve the government and the opposition emission reduction targets by 2030—at least on paper. But how much of this activity actually represents any real reductions? Does changing an LED light globe with another LED light globe really do anything other than some fancy accounting? No doubt there are some genuine reductions achieved, but I think we should all be incredibly sceptical of the claims that the Victorian energy target regulations imply. Increased energy costs for all Victorians to subsidise free lights and hot-water systems for residents of Toorak or Brighton is not something that the Liberal Democrats would ever support.

This motion, however, does not call for the scrapping of the scheme. It is a request to support a referral to the Victorian Auditor-General. There are many members of the community and indeed members of this Parliament that are very passionate about action on climate change. I would assume that when these calls are made for strong action on climate change they actually mean real action, not accounting magic that looks good on paper but produces little meaningful outcomes. The Victorian Auditor-General is well positioned to examine both the previous operation of this scheme and the effectiveness of the government’s proposed legislation should it successfully pass through the Parliament.

That debate on this motion be adjourned until later this day.

Motion agreed to and debate adjourned until later this day.