The Climate Change Authority is an Australian statutory agency established under the Climate Change Authority Act 2011. It began operations on 1 July 2012. Its role is to review various climate change policies, including the Carbon Farming Initiative and National Greenhouse and Energy Reporting system, and to advise the Australian Government and Parliament on other matters as requested. The Authority has no legislative or executive powers, which remain with the Government and Parliament of the day. The Authority is presently undertaking a Special Review into Australia's policies and targets for reducing emissions in the context of its international commitments and those of other countries. The Special Review is due to be completed by 30 June 2016. The Authority has a Board comprising a Chair and eight permanent members: Dr Wendy Craik, Stuart Allinson, Kate CarnellAO, Professor David Karoly, Professor John Quiggin, Professor Clive Hamilton, The Hon. John Sharp, Dr Alan Finkel and Danny Price. A tenth member, Andrew Macintosh, sits as an associate member until the conclusion of the Special Review. Dr Finkel is an ex officio member of the Authority as Australia's Chief Scientist, replacing the former Chief Scientist Ian Chubb. The original Chair of the Authority was former Reserve Bank of Australia Governor and Treasury Secretary, Bernie Fraser. He resigned from the position in September 2015. The agency is based in Melbourne where it has the advantage of being able to work closely with the Productivity Commission. The agency was allocated A$6.2 million in the 2012-13 financial year. The Australian Government, under Liberal leadership, is in the process of abolishing the Climate Change Authority, a move which has been heavily criticised.
Publications
The first Review completed by the Climate Change Authority was the Review of Australia’s Renewable Energy Target. The Authority received more than 8,700 submissions as part of this Review. On 19 December 2012 it released its Renewable Energy Target Review final report. On 30 October 2013 the Authority released a draft report as part of its Targets and Progress Review. The Targets and Progress Review draft report has draft recommendations of emissions reduction targets for Australia and reports on how the country is tracking towards these targets. Public submissions on the draft report are open until 29 November 2013. The final report was released on 27 February 2014. On 22 December 2014 the Authority released a second review of the Renewable Energy Target.
