EPA Greenhouse Gas Emissions Assessment Guidance – Consultation

Overview

The Environmental Protection Authority (EPA) is calling for community and industry input on how it should consider greenhouse gas emissions when assessing significant proposals in Western Australia.

The EPA wants to ensure its assessment guidelines on greenhouse gas emissions provide an appropriate framework for developing its advice to Government.

All submissions are welcome and will be considered by the EPA when drafting its greenhouse gas guidelines.

The EPA is particularly interested in receiving views and information in the following areas to improve its greenhouse gas guidelines:

• The information that should be required by the EPA for its Environmental Impact Assessments.
• How emissions associated with a proposal should be considered by the EPA?
• The constraints on potential emission mitigation conditions the EPA should recognise?
• Any other advice related to the assessment of greenhouse gas emissions by the EPA that would further clarify or improve the guidelines.

The EPA has developed a Background Paper to support this consultation.

Before making a submission you are encouraged to read the background paper as it explains how the EPA uses such guidance, and the information the EPA is seeking through this consultation.

 Greenhouse Gas Consultation - Background Paper

For further background you will also find previous greenhouse gas guidelines released in March this year, that were subsequently withdrawn.

Environmental Factor Guideline - Greenhouse Gas Emissions - Withdrawn 14 March 2019

Technical Guidance - Mitigating Greenhouse Gas Emissions - Withdrawn 14 March 2019 

Where do assessment guidelines fit in developing the EPA’s advice?  

The EPA has established a set of environmental factors that span land, sea, air, water and people.

Each factor has one or more guidelines which outline:

• the objective of the factor

• the information that may be required from a proponent in considering a proposal

 • the considerations the EPA might bring in evaluating the likelihood that the proposal will meet that objective, and the advice to the Minister that might ensue from that evaluation on the risks and their mitigations.

In some cases, a factor guideline is supported by technical guidance which provides further detail.

EPA’s guidelines are not binding rules. They are neither regulation nor state policy and are developed entirely at the discretion of the EPA.

Why your views matter

This consultation will help ensure the guidelines on greenhouse gas emmissions are well informed by the community's views and are clear, can be practically implemented and effectively inform assessment and advice in the execution of the EPA’s obligations under the Environmental Protection Act.

We are inviting the community to make a submission via our online Consultation Hub.

You can also:

Email a submission to greenhousegasconsult@epa.wa.gov.au

Or send hardcopy submissions to:

Greenhouse Gas Guideline Consultation

Lock Bag 10

Joondalup DC

WA 6919

In submitting your feedback it is important to note that the EPA intends to publish all submissions on the EPA website under the name of the submitter and no anonymous submissions will be accepted. Contact details, including email addresses, postal addresses and phone numbers will not be published.

What happens next

This Consultation on Greenhouse Gas Guidelines has now closed. For further information please contact greenhousegasconsult@epa.wa.gov.au.