section_path: Prime Minister of Australia (2022–present)/Domestic affairs/Climate change, environment and energy
section_name: Climate change, environment and energy
paragraph_text: Climate change, environment and energy
  
  On 16 June 2022, Albanese submitted a new Nationally Determined Contribution to the United Nations which formally committed Australia to reducing carbon emissions by 43% on 2005 levels. This represented an increase from the 26 to 28% target under the previous government. In September 2022, the Albanese government passed legislation to write this climate target into law. Albanese's government also entered a bid for Australia and its Pacific island neighbours to host the 2024 United Nations Climate Change Conference. Albanese supported a major expansion of gas production. In December 2024, he approved the expansion of four coal mines. He declared that he would not lift the moratorium on nuclear power in Australia.
  
  In late-2022, his government announced reforms to the "safeguard mechanism", an emissions trading scheme that requires Australia's largest carbon emitters to keep their emissions under a "baseline limit", either by reducing them, or by purchasing carbon credits. The mechanism was introduced by the Turnbull government in 2016, but failed to reduce emissions as the rules were often left unenforced. In March 2023, the Albanese government received the necessary support to pass the legislation from the Greens, who negotiated a "hard cap" on emissions that cannot be offset by carbon credits. The bill was passed on 30 March 2023, marking the most significant piece of climate change legislation passed through the Australian parliament since the Clean Energy Act 2011. On 5 October 2023, Australia re-joined the United Nations' Green Climate Fund, which the previous Morrison government had withdrawn from in 2018. In December 2023, the government legislated a "nature repair market" to create a biodiversity market to encourage private companies to invest in projects that protect biodiversity, and committed to establishing a federal environmental protection agency (EPA). However, the legislation to establish an EPA was delayed after lobbying from the mining sector and the state government of Western Australia, attracting criticism from environmental groups. In May 2024, the government legislated a vehicle emission standard for new vehicles sold in Australia from 1 July 2025, in an effort to introduce more fuel efficient vehicles to the Australian market.
  
  Albanese's government took office during a massive surge in electricity prices exacerbated by the global energy crisis and the Russo-Ukrainian War. On 9 December 2022, Albanese convened a meeting of the National Cabinet and announced a coordinated plan to introduce temporary caps on gas and coal prices. On 15 December, Albanese recalled Parliament to pass a 12-month cap on gas prices to limit electricity price rises.