World is Green

Scott Deatherage, a Environmental Lawyer points to a number of companies identified by the Pew Center on Global Climate Change who have set major greenhouse gas reduction targets and have achieved them.

In a carbon constrained world of the future, these companies are way forward than anybody else.

Alcan

Reduce GHG emissions by 575,000 tons CO2e between 2001 and 2005.
(To date, emissions have been reduced by more than 2.9 million tons CO2e.)
Reduce GHG emissions by 35% from 1990 until 2005.

BP

Reduce GHG emissions by 10 percent from 1990 levels by 2010.

Maintain net emissions at or below 2001 levels over the next decade.

DuPont

Reduce GHG emissions by 65 percent from 1990 levels by 2010.
(Actual reduction by 2002 is 67 percent.)

Hold total energy use flat at 1990 levels through 2010. (Actual use in 2002 was 9 percent below 1990 levels while production has increased by almost 30 percent.)

Rio Tinto

Reduce on-site GHG emissions per unit of production by 4.8 percent from
1990 levels by 2001.

Toyota

Reduce energy consumption per unit of production by 15 percent from 2000
levels by 2005.2

The companies identified above are some of the leaders who have set targets and have achieved them. For example: Dupont decreased its energy use while increasing its production.

The Pew Center suggests that “Many companies are not waiting for government mandates. They are taking steps to reduce their emissions right now by implementing targets and other innovative programs in areas such as energy, carbon sequestration, and waste management.”

They list many strategies that the corporations are taking to decrease their carbon footprint.

Like Innovation in areas of technology, the internet, products and even processes; the corporations at the forefront of the new rules of the game will have a better chance of success in the future.

The Business Council of Australia’s Climate Policy supports a ‘cap and trade’ emission system for Carbon in Australia. In January, we discussed a PWC report called “Carbon Conscious” where the survey suggested that 78% of the respondents wanted a regulated rather than voluntary carbon traded system. The support is seen in the climate policy of BCA now.

The BCA’s Strategic Framework for Emissions Reduction (Download: PDF) acknowledges the need for a long term policy to combat the problem. In fact, they are very realistic in their assessment that to transition from the current high-carbon economy to a low-carbon one will not be easy and will carry a economic cost. However, not doing so has it own associated costs.

Even though a global trading system for Carbon is the ideal situation; Australia should develop its own cap-trade system which will initially run for at least 30 years to remove uncertainty for investors and create a market where the cheapest abatement technology will win.

The introduction provides a clear sense of what the business world in Australia understands and the need for the government to move in. This document will be a great step forward for Australia’s Low-Carbon future.