The Safeguard Mechanism is a key policy in Australia’s fight against climate change, which caps emissions from big industrial facilities and other large polluters. Greenhouse gas emitters, from LNG platforms to mines to airlines, must keep their emissions below a baseline, or pay.

Now it faces reform, as the Albanese government has committed to amend the mechanism, to meet the 2030 target of cutting emissions to 43% below 2005 levels. But as ever, the devil is in the detail.

Host Kat Clay is joined by Alison Reeve, Deputy Program Director, and Esther Suckling, Associate, to discuss the Safeguard Mechanism design issues facing the government.

Read the Safeguard Mechanism reform paper

Alison Reeve

Energy and Climate Deputy Program Director
Alison Reeve is the Climate Change and Energy Deputy Program Director at Grattan Institute. She has two decades of experience in climate change, clean energy policy, and technology, in the private, public, academic, and not-for-profit sectors.

Kat Clay

Head of Digital Communications
Kat Clay is the Head of Digital Communications at Grattan Institute. She has more than a decade of experience in digital content and creative services across the non-profit and government sectors.

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