Australia Enforces Emissions Caps on Major Polluters.
The Australian Parliament has passed an emissions reduction bill that will require the country's biggest industrial polluters to reduce their greenhouse gas emissions by about 30% by 2030. The new legislation, dubbed the "safeguard mechanism," will compel Australia's highest-emitting industrial facilities to reduce their greenhouse gas emissions, which should be equivalent to taking two-thirds of the nation's cars off the road. The conservative opposition Liberal Party does not support the policy, and its energy and climate spokesman, Ted O'Brien, said it will "make the Australian economy weaker and the Australian people poorer."