Emissions Reduction Fund Green Paper released

Introduction

Quietly and without much fanfare, the Government released its Green Paper on the Emissions Reduction Fund (Green Paper) just before Christmas.¹ The Emissions Reduction Fund (ERF) is the central plank of the Government's Direct Action Plan, which also includes the One Million Solar Roofs and 20 Million Trees programmes and the Solar Towns and Solar Schools initiatives.

The aim of the Direct Action Plan is to achieve emissions reductions of five per cent based on 2000 levels by 2020. On current emissions projections, this target represents a reduction amount of 131 million tonnes of CO2-e in 2020 and a cumulative amount between 2014 and 2020 of 431 million tonnes.²