Inquiry into Australia's transition to a green energy superpower
The Law Council of Australia welcomes the opportunity to provide a submission to the Joint Standing Committee on Trade and Investment Growth (Joint Committee) for the purposes of its inquiry into how trade and investment can support Australia’s transition to a green energy superpower (Inquiry).
The Law Council’s submission to the Inquiry is attached. The Law Council thanks the Australian Environment and Planning Law Group of the Legal Practice Section of the Law Council, and the Law Council’s Climate Change Working Group for their input to this submission.
Executive summary
The focus of the Inquiry is to identify challenges and opportunities for Australia—through trade and investment—to capitalise on its natural resources to create new industries and jobs, and become a renewable energy superpower.1
The scale of the transition being contemplated to address the effects of climate change, including through the increased reliance on renewable energy production and use, is significant and will have direct and indirect ramifications across many areas of law and society. In this submission, the Law Council has set out the key principles, informed by its Climate Change Policy,2 that it considers should guide Australia’s policy and legislative approach to climate change, applied specifically to trade and investment in renewable energy.
Last Updated on 16/02/2023