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The federal government has struck a crucial deal with the Greens to secure the party's support on its signature climate change bill.
The so-called safeguard mechanism will force 215 of the country's biggest polluters to curb their emissions, which is seen as essential for Australia to reach its climate targets.
The companies will be forced to cut, or pay offsets, to reduce their emissions by 4.9 per cent each year to 2030.
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The agreement comes after months of negotiations, with the policy at the centre of Labor's pledge to cut carbon emissions by 43 per cent by 2030.
In exchange for its support, the Greens secured more than a dozen amendments to the bill, including a pollution trigger to test the impact of any future project.
Greens leader Adam Bandt said the deal includes a hard cap on emissions, which will significantly limit "coal and gas expansion in Australia".
"Coal and gas pollution was set to soar under Labor's safeguard," he said.
"The Greens have introduced a hard cap on emissions, meaning real pollution must actually come down and the coal and gas corporations can't buy their way out of the cap with offsets.
"This puts a limit on coal and gas expansion in Australia. Pollution will now go down, not up, as it was set to under Labor.
"With our significant amendments, the Greens will be voting to pass the bill and will back the regulations but the fight against all new coal and gas continues."
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Bandt said the deal will make it impossible for 116 new coal and gas projects to open because they won't be able to get their emissions below the limit.
"The Greens have stopped about half of them but Labor still wants to open the rest," he said.
"And, so, now there is going to be a fight for every new project that the government wants to open."
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese thanked the Greens and the crossbench for their ability to participate in constructive negotiations but lashed the Coalition.
"It says a lot about the state of the Liberal and National parties in 2023 that, in spite of the election result, they have excluded themselves from any participation," he said.
https://twitter.com/AdamBandt/status/1640158163684171776?s=20
Though Bandt said negotiations had been in good faith, the Greens will continue to push for further action, with the leader taking aim at Labor's stance on coal on gas.
"Negotiating with Labor is like negotiating with the political wing of the coal and gas corporations," he said.
"Labor seems more afraid of the coal and gas corporations than the climate collapse."
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