Sustainable Business Australia


Members Login | Join SBA
Acresta    Acresta    AGL    AirTerAq    Arup in Australasia    Australian Ethical Investment and Superannuation Ltd    Australian Meat Processors Corporation    Australian Sustainable Business Group    Banksia Foundation    Biopower Systems    Brickworks Limited    Carbon Management Institute of Australia and New Zealand    Carbon Reduction Institute    Carbon Training International    City of Sydney    CleanTeq    Climate Markets and Investments Association    Climate Works    David Jones    DESSO    Energetics    Environmental Planning Law Association of NSW    Environment Resources Management    Fererro    Forests Alive    Global Renewables Limited    Good Environmental Choice Australia    Greening Australia    iag    Sinclair Knight Merz    KPMG    KPMG    lJ Hooker    National Australia Bank    National Environmental Law Association    McCullough Robertson    Object Consulting    Powerstar Australia    Purves Environmental    SITA Environmental Solutions    St James Ethical Centre    Swift Digital    Swift Digital    ZINK Charitable Trust   
CEO News Archive
Media
Speeches

Media release

Reports regarding delay of the CPRS

27 April 2010

If the report in today's Sydney Morning Herald is correct and the CPRS is to be deferred, Australia would face international criticism from those concerned about the environment.

Australia would also face immeasurable criticism from those concerned about the economic well-being of our country.

There are two reasons for this. Firstly, collateral damage on the scale of climate change is the single most serious economic issue of our times. The worse the problem gets the more it will cost.

Without a firm price signal to drive reductions in emissions of pollution, carbon dioxide and other other greenhouse gases will continue to build up in the atmosphere. The impacts on health, food production, sea levels, drought, and more severe weather impacts are widely documented by experts who have spent decades on research.

Humans may be resilient, but if the eco-system services we rely on become so damaged they can no longer support us, there is no amount of money, no technology, no infrastructure that could reverse that damage. Irrevocability is a very dangerous game of poker - you can't buy a second hand.

The wise thing to do is to make sure that emissions are reduced and, at the same time, draw surfeit CO2 from the atmosphere. Both these things need to happen at speed and at scale. Both are feasible. Australia could lead in both areas - and build new markets, new industries and new jobs at the same time.

And that brings us to the second reason why it would be economic insanity to defer the main catalyst to action - globally the low carbon and environmental goods and services sector is worth over Aus$6 trillion per annum. It may already be the world's fastest growing industry. Australia can lead in some of the most important of these because of our vast renewable energy resources and our carbon depleted soils.

The emissions trading scheme is not a new big tax - it is part of the important investment in our future.

Sustainable Business Australia supports innovative industries and new jobs for green economies
T: +61 (0)2 8267 5782 | E: sba@sba.asn.au | Legion House, Level 2, 161 Castlereagh Street, Sydney NSW 2000 Australia