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CEO News Archive Media Speeches |
Media releaseHuge opportunities ahead in energy efficiency, zero emissions energy, and carbon offsets -so start now on emissions trading - says Environment Business AustraliaMarch 2007Environment Business Australia is calling for a 2008 start to Australia's national emissions trading scheme in order to fast-track the deployment of commercially competitive solutions to climate change. "Removing waste, pollution, and greenhouse gas emissions and providing greater energy productivity is one of the best opportunities for wealth generation and wealth preservation that the world has ever seen. Making our economy smarter and more efficient is Australia's next competitive edge if we choose to seize it" said Fiona Wain, CEO of Environment Business Australia. EBA is the peak organisation for the Australian environment industry, a $20 billion sector of the economy. In its submission to the Prime Minister's Task Group on Emissions Trading, EBA has strongly recommended that all key emitters and solutions providers be involved from the outset of the scheme. EBA suggests that the real challenge for the PM's Task Group is to create the blueprint for an energy and climate change strategy that is capable of making dramatic reductions in greenhouse gas emissions in Australia and in developing countries. This will create investment in new and sustainable industries and jobs that will increase GDP growth. This is what EBA sees as the 'opportunity side' of tackling climate change, highlighting that Australia could achieve between 60% and 80% GHG emissions cuts by 2050. This can be achieved by combining energy efficiency, zero emissions energy sources for baseload electricity, renewable energy for distributed generation, gas, and cleaner coal with carbon capture and storage, together with a broad portfolio of carbon offsets from waste reduction and recycling programs, and a fresh look at carbon sequestration - where carbon is diverted to storage in Australia's degraded soils and fast growing biofuels such as algae. And EBA believes that much of this environmental infrastructure can be replicated in developing countries - exactly what institutional investors, bankers, insurers, major retailers and corporations, scientists and economists are looking for. EBA has said that development of an Australian national emissions trading scheme should not wait for a global scheme to emerge. EBA cited the potential for Australia to foster an APEC+India trading scheme to build on the AP6 technology approach, and current opportunities to trade with the Chicago Climate Exchange, California, and the USA's northeastern States. EBA has said that development of an Australian national emissions trading scheme should not wait for a global scheme to emerge. EBA cited the potential for Australia to foster an APEC+India trading scheme to build on the AP6 technology approach, and current opportunities to trade with the Chicago Climate Exchange, California, and the USA's northeastern States. Energy management company Energetics believe that Australia can achieve between 2% and 2.5% per annum compound improvement in emissions reduction and that this can be sustained into the long-term. This would result in 22-28% emissions reductions in 10 years and 35+% over 15 years through energy efficiency improvements alone. However, Energetics emphasise that emissions trading needs a strong regulatory framework, and fiscal incentives working alongside in order to achieve this outcome. In addition to Australia's many forestation and biofuel projects capable of supplying carbon offsets, a new approach has seen Australian companies Global Renewables and Lend Lease awarded with a $5 billion contract in the UK. They will build and operate a state-of-the-art waste management project to recycle materials and embodied energy, methane and soil carbon from the waste stream. Global Renewables' Chairman, Dr John White, estimates this approach can reduce GHG emissions by between 7% and 10% per annum, generating significant carbon credits in the process. An additional benefit of this massive recycling project is that natural fertiliser, a by-product of the putrescible waste stream, can help farmers revitalise soils while giving them an opportunity to become carbon traders. With solar thermal and deep hot rock geothermal energy sources, Australia is close to having zero emissions energy technology capable of providing baseload electricity. It is anticipated that both will be generating by 2010. Solar thermal works by using solar concentrators (paraboloidal dish or trough shaped mirrors that track the sun) to harness and concentrate solar energy that heats water to 500 degrees centigrade. This creates steam to drive turbines. Alternatively, the energy can be used to heat chemical reactors with gases such as methane or ammonia, creating a chemical reaction where new chemical bonds are formed, trapping energy for future use. This combination of energy generation and energy storage means that solar baseload energy has the potential to be a realistic competitor to coal-fired powered plants in certain countries. The quality and quantity of Australia's recoverable hot fractured rock resources is vast and by accessing heat trapped 4.5 kms underground is capable of baseload energy generation reaching three or four thousand megawatts of electricity by 2030. Geodynamics believe they will be generating price competitive commercial electricity from northern South Australia by 2010. On a smaller scale, but capable of providing local electricity and desalinated seawater, wave energy company Energetech has so successfully trialed their technology at Port Kembla that the International Academy of Science has awarded them as "one of the world's top ten technologies". We may not have a perfect picture of the problems of climate change. We may not be able to predict precisely what will happen when and where. But there are clear trends of increasing CO2 accumulation in the atmosphere; rising temperatures; and rising sea levels. Therefore, we know enough to fast-track measures to try to prevent the foreseeable impacts that these trends are likely to inflict on economies, security, health, agricultural productivity, water availability, quality of human life, eco-systems and biodiversity. Reducing greenhouse gas emissions is critical. But the remarkable opportunity is that, just as with every previous technology efficiency transformation of our economy, Australia will be a wealthier and better place to live once we make the transition - and as we help other countries to make the journey with us. |
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