A new fast lane or just a roadblock? Mitigating road transport GHG emissions under Australia's Emissions Reduction Fund

Abstract

In November 2014 the Australian Government established the Emissions Reduction Fund (ERF) as its Direct Action Plan policy to reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions to meet Australia’s commitment to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change. This article examines how the ERF is expected to apply to road transport entities specifically, on the premise that this sector makes a substantial and growing contribution to Australia’s GHG emissions. More specifically, it identifies problems and pitfalls of using the ERF as the flagship mechanism to encourage mitigation of GHG emissions from road transport, which arise from both scheme design and the characteristics of entities in this sector. This article argues that the ERF is unlikely to encourage substantial mitigation of GHG emissions from Australia’s road transport sector, and identifies other measures that could be used in Australia for this purpose