Funding for trade exposed Safeguard facilities to reduce emissions

The Powering the Regions Fund – Safeguard Transformation Stream Round 1 grant opportunity will provide up to $50 million to trade exposed facilities to reduce their emissions and contribute to meeting Australia’s emissions reduction targets.

This grant opportunity was announced in January 2023 as part of the Government’s Safeguard Mechanism Reforms to support the Government’s ambition for Australia to become a renewable energy superpower.

The Australian Government has announced a total of $600 million over the life of the program. For this first round of the Powering the Regions Fund - Safeguard Transformation Stream up to $300 million is available over 4 years.

The objectives of this grant opportunity are to:

• support trade-exposed facilities covered by the Safeguard Mechanism to reduce their emissions and contribute to meeting Australia’s 2030 (and 2050) emissions reduction targets
• reduce the risk of carbon leakage, which occurs when a business responds to emissions reduction policies by moving emissions-intensive production to a country with less stringent policies
• provide skills development to existing industrial workforce in new equipment or processes that contribute to the reduction of scope 1 emissions.

The intended outcome of this grant opportunity is a reduction of emissions at trade exposed Safeguard facilities consistent with their obligations under the Safeguard Mechanism.