Adjusting to a carbon-managed economy will not necessarily be easy or swift, and no single solution will deliver this change – however, by starting to manage our carbon dioxide emissions now, we may be able to limit the effects of climate change to levels that we can adapt to, and even prosper from, says VECCI.
According to VECCI Chief Executive Officer Wayne Kayler-Thomson, this is a key conclusion of the VECCI Life and Opportunities in a Carbon Managed Economy Task Group, which will report its findings at the Victoria SummitTM at Parliament House in Melbourne on 15 November 2007.
"Our key message to policy makers is that the private sector is the major source of capital and innovation necessary to meet the challenge of adjusting to a carbon-managed economy", says Mr Kayler-Thomson.
"Yet business is unlikely to be able to develop and deploy the necessary technologies at the scale and pace required without help from Governments.
"Policy efforts must align with long-range business investment cycles. A mix of integrated energy and sustainability policies and programs backed by supportive regulation and governance frameworks will reduce investment uncertainty and assist business in this important role.
"To do this properly, we need to map the carbon exposure profile of Victorian industry by June 2008 and develop Carbon Adjustment Action Plans for identified 'high risk' industries and sectors.
"While the focus of the Task Group is on contributing to the policies and actions needed to make a successful transition to a lower carbon economy, we cannot lose sight of the fact that Victoria's future energy demands over the next twenty years and beyond are unlikely to be met without additional, new baseload generation capacity.
"For this reason, we repeat a key recommendation of our 2005 Victoria Summit that planning must begin now for new plant to meet Victoria's future baseload energy needs. This plant must incorporate world's best generation and environmental technologies.
"Our recommendations on the preferred direction of policy and supporting programs complement Victorian industry responses and are designed to make a lasting contribution to Victoria's greenhouse gas challenge", says Mr Kayler-Thomson.
Recommendations:
- Map the carbon exposure profile of Victorian industry by June 2008.
- Develop Carbon Adjustment Action Plans for identified 'high risk' industries and sectors.
- Provide practical actions to prepare businesses for a national emissions trading scheme through a new Statewide awareness program.
- Review the emissions management capacity of all sectors of the economy and use the results to inform a national adaptation strategy.
- Develop new standards to identify, and certify, the 'green credentials' of industry supply chains.
- Develop and accept international standards for environmental audits and verification processes.
- Introduce a national Carbon Contribution Label (CCL) to measure a product's carbon footprint across its life cycle, from source, to store, to disposal.
- Give priority to National Energy Market (NEM) reforms and begin planning now for additional generation capacity to meet Victoria's future baseload energy needs.
- Implement measures to assist low income individuals and households offset the impact of higher energy prices.
- Modify producer and consumer behaviour to deliver improved environmental performance through application of the tax system.
- Consider the introduction a Clean Technology Adoption Allowance (CTAA) to encourage increased research and development and uptake of carbon reducing technology, plant and equipment.
- Consider the introduction of a Carbon-Reduction Loan Scheme where low or no interest loans are provided to SMEs to replace or upgrade existing equipment with carbon-reducing alternatives.
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