Western Australia has signalled plans to raise billions of dollars in debt from so-called green finance markets in a bid to counter views the state is a major source of global pollution.The WA government has developed plans to tap the $1 trillion global sustainable bonds marketCritics have pointed to WA's rising carbon emissions to paint the plan as 'greenwashing'
It is understood the money will be used to pay for spending on things ranging from public transport assets such as railways and solar panels on social housing to pine plantation recycling initiatives. According to Mr Barnaba, critical to accessing the green bond market was a rigorous reporting and auditing process that required borrowers to show how they were spending the money.
"You will always get greenwashing and probably we're seeing unprecedented greenwashing at the moment where pretty well every corporate is trying to rebrand themselves as part of the carbon solution. "We're the laggard state of the recalcitrant country in many ways, and that's a pretty frustrating place to be in," Dr Pettitt said.
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