Environmental protection spending up 10%

Local and central government spent an extra $204 million on environmental protection in 2021, an annual increase of 10%, environmental-economic accounts data shows.Altogether, $2.2 billion was spent on environmental protection, most of it coming from local government.Environmental protection spending includes air and water quality, flood management, pest management, waste disposal and wastewater.The accounts show environmental taxes increased by $385m to $6.26b. The biggest contributor to this was energy taxes, with transport taxes declining sl...