This is a searchable catalogue of the College's most recent books, book chapters, journal articles and working papers. The ANU College of Law also publishes a Research Paper Series on SSRN.
The dysfunctional taboo: monetary financing at the Bank of England, the Federal Reserve, and the European Central Bank
Authors: Will Bateman, Jens van ‘t Klooster
Centre: CIPL
Research theme: Administrative Law, Law, Governance and Development, Regulatory Law and Policy
Monetary financing – the issuance of public money to support public expenditure – remains a widespread policy taboo. In this article, we analyze the operational practices of the Bank of England, the Federal Reserve and the European Central Bank (ECB) from the 20th onwards to argue that monetary finance should be understood as a conventional and legitimate part of central banks’ core functions. We argue that monetary financing serves a crucial macro-financial role in the face of large fluctuations in the demand for and supply of government debt, where the central bank acts to stabilize sovereign debt markets. We show that monetary financing has been a stable and pervasive feature of the Bank of England’s and the Federal Reserve’s operations. Turning to the ECB, we show that by the mid-2000s the view came to dominate the institution that the central bank should allow markets to punish governments for excessive deficits. This view informed the ECB’s catastrophic reluctance to act on the 2008 and 2009 Financial Crisis deficits. By 2020 that attitude had once again largely been abandoned.
What do chewed shrubs actually tell us about forest regeneration?
Authors: Donald Butler,
Centre: CIPL
Research theme: Environmental Law
Professor Donald Butler has written a short paper explaining what chewed shrubs actually tell us about forest regeneration.
Response to Clean Energy Regulator and Department of Climate Change Energy Environment and Water (DCCEEW) Statement on the Analysis of the Integrity Risk and Performance of Human-induced Regeneration (HIR) Projects using CEA data
Authors: Andrew Macintosh, Megan C. Evans, Marie Waschka, Dean Ansell
Centre: CIPL
Research theme: Administrative Law, Environmental Law
On 28 June 2023, the Clean Energy Regulator (CER) and Department of Climate Change Energy Environment and Water (DCCEEW) published the following statement in response to two papers by the ANU/UNSW ERF research team:
- Macintosh, A., Butler, D., Evans, M.C., Waschka, M., Ansell, D. (2023) Summary Results of Analysis of the Integrity Risk and Performance of Human-induced Regeneration (HIR) Projects using CEA data. The Australian National University, Canberra (paper 1); 1 and
- Macintosh, A., Butler, D., Larraondo, P., Waschka, M., Evans, M.C., Ansell, D. (2023) The under-performance of human-induced regeneration (HIR) projects: Analysis of misinformation disseminated by the Clean Energy Regulator. The Australian National University, Canberra (paper 2).
Response to Clean Energy Regulator and Department of Climate Change Energy Environment and Water (DCCEEW) Statement on the Analysis of the Integrity Risk and Performance of Human-induced Regeneration (HIR) Projects using CEA data
Authors: Donald Butler, Megan C. Evans, Marie Waschka, Dean Ansell
Centre: CIPL
Research theme: Administrative Law, Environmental Law
On 28 June 2023, the Clean Energy Regulator (CER) and Department of Climate Change Energy Environment and Water (DCCEEW) published the following statement in response to two papers by the ANU/UNSW ERF research team:
- Macintosh, A., Butler, D., Evans, M.C., Waschka, M., Ansell, D. (2023) Summary Results of Analysis of the Integrity Risk and Performance of Human-induced Regeneration (HIR) Projects using CEA data. The Australian National University, Canberra (paper 1); 1 and
- Macintosh, A., Butler, D., Larraondo, P., Waschka, M., Evans, M.C., Ansell, D. (2023) The under-performance of human-induced regeneration (HIR) projects: Analysis of misinformation disseminated by the Clean Energy Regulator. The Australian National University, Canberra (paper 2).
Summary Results of Analysis of the Integrity Risk and Performance of Human-induced Regeneration (HIR) Projects using CEA data
Authors: Andrew Macintosh, Megan C. Evans, Marie Waschka, Dean Ansell
Centre: CIPL
Research theme: Administrative Law, Environmental Law
This paper presents summary results from an analysis of 192 human-induced regeneration (HIR) projects, using recently released carbon estimation area (CEA) data and the Carbon Integrity Explorer. The results show that, across the 3.4 million hectares where forest is supposedly regenerating, forest cover only increased by 1.6%. There was no net increase in forest cover across more than 98% of the area included in the assessed CEAs. The results confirm that the vast majority of HIR projects that have been credited to date have resulted in very little (and often negative) tree cover change, and that most of the change that has occurred is likely to be attributable to seasonal variability rather than the project activities.
Summary Results of Analysis of the Integrity Risk and Performance of Human-induced Regeneration (HIR) Projects using CEA data
Authors: Donald Butler, Megan C. Evans, Marie Waschka, Dean Ansell
Centre: CIPL
Research theme: Administrative Law, Environmental Law
This paper presents summary results from an analysis of 192 human-induced regeneration (HIR) projects, using recently released carbon estimation area (CEA) data and the Carbon Integrity Explorer. The results show that, across the 3.4 million hectares where forest is supposedly regenerating, forest cover only increased by 1.6%. There was no net increase in forest cover across more than 98% of the area included in the assessed CEAs. The results confirm that the vast majority of HIR projects that have been credited to date have resulted in very little (and often negative) tree cover change, and that most of the change that has occurred is likely to be attributable to seasonal variability rather than the project activities.
The under-performance of human-induced regeneration (HIR) projects: Analysis of misinformation disseminated by the Clean Energy Regulator
Authors: Andrew Macintosh, Pablo Larraondo, Marie Waschka, Megan C. Evans, Dean Ansell
Centre: CIPL
Research theme: Administrative Law, Environmental Law
The Clean Energy Regulator has recently published several graphs, including Figure ES1 below, in response to concerns over the underperformance of human-induced regeneration (HIR) projects in regenerating native forests. Figure ES1 purports to show trends in woody cover (forest cover, or possibly forest and sparse woody cover combined) over the period 1988 to 2020 in the carbon estimation areas (CEAs) of projects whose project commencement dates were backdated to between 2010-11 and 2012-13, relative to the trends in the CEAs of projects that commenced over the period 2014-16 and an unspecified local government area (LGA).
The under-performance of human-induced regeneration (HIR) projects: Analysis of misinformation disseminated by the Clean Energy Regulator
Authors: Donald Butler, Pablo Larraondo, Marie Waschka, Megan C. Evans, Dean Ansell
Centre: CIPL
Research theme: Administrative Law, Environmental Law
The Clean Energy Regulator has recently published several graphs, including Figure ES1 below, in response to concerns over the underperformance of human-induced regeneration (HIR) projects in regenerating native forests. Figure ES1 purports to show trends in woody cover (forest cover, or possibly forest and sparse woody cover combined) over the period 1988 to 2020 in the carbon estimation areas (CEAs) of projects whose project commencement dates were backdated to between 2010-11 and 2012-13, relative to the trends in the CEAs of projects that commenced over the period 2014-16 and an unspecified local government area (LGA).
Correcting the Record: Response to Professor Chubb’s Statement on Carbon Farming
Authors: Andrew Macintosh, Marie Waschka, Megan C Evans, Dean Ansell, Pablo Larraondo
Centre: CIPL
Research theme: Administrative Law, Environmental Law
On 17 March 2023, the Department of Climate Change, Energy, Environment and Water’s (DCCEEW) published a paper by Professor Ian Chubb, the former Chair of the Independent Review of Australian Carbon Credit Units (ACCUs), titled, Carbon Farming: let’s get real and let’s get on with it.1 The paper focuses on the ACCU scheme and the recommendations the Review made to improve it. The essence of the argument put forward in the paper is that the ACCU scheme is robust and that the Review’s recommendations, and the scheme’s compliance and enforcement processes, will address any issues that exist with the integrity of projects and credits. Consistent with this, Professor Chubb argues ‘[w]e have to work at it, get real and get on with it’.
Correcting the Record: Response to Professor Chubb’s Statement on Carbon Farming
Authors: Donald Butler, Marie Waschka, Megan C Evans, Dean Ansell, Pablo Larraondo
Centre: CIPL
Research theme: Administrative Law, Environmental Law
On 17 March 2023, the Department of Climate Change, Energy, Environment and Water’s (DCCEEW) published a paper by Professor Ian Chubb, the former Chair of the Independent Review of Australian Carbon Credit Units (ACCUs), titled, Carbon Farming: let’s get real and let’s get on with it.1 The paper focuses on the ACCU scheme and the recommendations the Review made to improve it. The essence of the argument put forward in the paper is that the ACCU scheme is robust and that the Review’s recommendations, and the scheme’s compliance and enforcement processes, will address any issues that exist with the integrity of projects and credits. Consistent with this, Professor Chubb argues ‘[w]e have to work at it, get real and get on with it’.
The green investment principles: from a nodal governance perspective
Authors: Wenting Cheng,
Centre: CIPL
Research theme: Environmental Law, International Law
China’s Belt and Road Initiative is now the world’s largest infrastructure initiative, with long-term climate change effects, and the Green Investment Principles for Belt and Road (GIPs) have been promoted as a key instrument to green the Belt and Road. This article focuses on the question: What role do the GIPs play in building a green Belt and Road and addressing relevant regulatory challenges? Based on the theory of nodal governance, it is argued that the GIPs’ two-layered networks facilitate China to influence investment decisions over many countries along the Belt and Road indirectly through fund providers as key nodes to transition toward green investment. China also avoided direct interference with the domestic policies of host countries through the GIP network. As a framework agreement, the GIPs also provide opportunities for signatories to contribute to the design and negotiation of specific implementation standards, enhanced capacity building, and the prospect of more stringent and prescriptive environmental standards in the future.
Tortured recommendations, incomplete and unsubstantiated findings: an analysis of the report of the Independent Review of Australian Carbon Credit Units
Authors: Andrew Macintosh, Megan C. Evans, Marie Washcka, Dean Ansell
Centre: CIPL
Research theme: Administrative Law, Environmental Law
Carbon offsets can play a critical role in climate policy by reducing the economy-wide costs of mitigating greenhouse gas emissions and generating important social and environmental cobenefits. However, the benefits of offsets are contingent on integrity – the offsets must represent real and additional greenhouse gas abatement. There are serious integrity issues with Australia’s carbon offset scheme. Weak governance structures have resulted in deficiencies in the design and administration of the scheme. The problems with the scheme have been detailed in a series of papers published by the Australian National University (ANU) and University of New South Wales, Canberra (UNSW) Emissions Reduction Fund (ERF) research team and other groups.
Tortured recommendations, incomplete and unsubstantiated findings: an analysis of the report of the Independent Review of Australian Carbon Credit Units
Authors: Donald Butler, Megan C. Evans, Marie Washcka, Dean Ansell
Centre: CIPL
Research theme: Administrative Law, Environmental Law
Carbon offsets can play a critical role in climate policy by reducing the economy-wide costs of mitigating greenhouse gas emissions and generating important social and environmental cobenefits. However, the benefits of offsets are contingent on integrity – the offsets must represent real and additional greenhouse gas abatement. There are serious integrity issues with Australia’s carbon offset scheme. Weak governance structures have resulted in deficiencies in the design and administration of the scheme. The problems with the scheme have been detailed in a series of papers published by the Australian National University (ANU) and University of New South Wales, Canberra (UNSW) Emissions Reduction Fund (ERF) research team and other groups.