Biggest Australian polluters forced to lower emissions by 4.9 pct annually

CANBERRA, Jan. 11 (Xinhua) -- The Australian government has announced it will impose stricter carbon emissions limits on the country's biggest polluters.

Under the revamped safeguard mechanism, Australia's 215 biggest industrial polluters will be forced to cut their emissions by 30 percent by 2030.

From July 1, the facilities will be subject to a binding pollution cap that will fall by 4.9 percent every year.

The safeguard mechanism is the Labor government's signature climate policy and will be the first legislation that compels the industry to cut emissions since the carbon tax was repealed in 2014.

Chris Bowen, minister for climate change and energy, told reporters on Tuesday that the policy would ensure big polluters do their bit to help Australia achieve its goal to reduce emissions by 43 percent from 2005 levels by 2030.

"Facilities covered by the safeguard mechanism are responsible for almost a third of Australia's emissions," Bowen said.

"Twenty-eight percent of emissions come from them -- we will require 28 percent of emissions reduction to come from safeguard facilities," he added.