Lawyers in the environmental and carbon space are set to be flat out for the coming weeks following the release of the government's Clean Energy Legislation submission date.
Businesses and their legal advisors will only have until August 22 to make submissions on the legislation which was released on Thursday (July 28). The Clean Energy Legislative package includes four main bills - the Clean Energy Bill 2011 (which sets up the carbon price mechanism); the Clean Energy Regulator Bill 2011 (which establishes a regulatory body to administer the mechanism); the Climate Change Authority Bill 2011 (which establishes a new Authority to advise the government on the future design of the carbon price mechanism) and the Clean Energy (Consequential Amendments) Bill 2011. In addition there are several bills dealing with other consequential and procedural matters and bills dealing with fuel tax arrangements.
"It's a very tough process," said Mallesons Stephen Jaques partner Louis Chiam, a specialist in infrastructure, energy and resources, climate change and major projects. "There is a lot of material to get through in a very short time frame. However, large parts of the bill have already been discussed when the CPRS was under consideration."
In addition, clients who are in the midst or about to undertake deals are demanding advice from Chiam and his team based on the available information. "They want to include as much detail as possible in any contracts," he said.
A number of new elements such as the transport sector's exclusion from the scheme will require additional work by lawyers, says Elisa de Wit, head of climate change at Norton Rose Australia.
"The transport sector is the main one that will be looking for information," she said. "We are doing a number of briefings for airline and rail clients."
As transport companies are not included in the main carbon price scheme it may indeed be more expensive for the entities as they won't be able to buy overseas carbon credits, says de Wit. "It's creating additional legal work because they have different acts that will deal with transport," she added.