http://www.cedaily.com.au/index.php CE Daily en-au Copyright CE Daily 2008 hourly 1 1970-01-01T00:00+00:00 http://www.cedaily.com.au/RDF/manage_head1.gif http://www.cedaily.com.au/ CE Daily http://www.cedaily.com.au/nl06_news_selected.php?act=2&selkey=37059 Professor Ross Garnaut’s much-anticipated draft report sets out a strategy to fight what he terms 'the greatest market failure ever seen’. It involves a trading scheme with full permit auctioning, with about half the revenue returned to households. Some payments would go to trade-exposed, emissions-intensive industries. But if the scheme starts with a low, fixed carbon price in the first two years – ‘a legitimate second-best option’ according to Garnaut – then payments to these industries might not be necessary. CE Daily 2008-07-04T15:06:50+10:00 http://www.cedaily.com.au/nl06_news_selected.php?act=2&selkey=37055 Prime Minister Kevin Rudd and state and territory leaders yesterday agreed to finalise by the end of the year a framework for identifying regions suitable for strategic assessment under the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act. COAG also agreed to implement before the end of the year a suite of reforms to the regulation of chemicals. CE Daily 2008-07-04T10:21:28+10:00 http://www.cedaily.com.au/nl06_news_selected.php?act=2&selkey=37049 To its fans, the Productivity Commission has provided a much-needed reality check on ill-conceived environmental policies. To its critics, it has too often failed to consider crucial environmental costs and benefits. CE Daily talks to the commission’s sustainability commissioner, Neil Byron, about why it never initiated research into emissions trading, what its energy efficiency inquiry didn’t cover and its upcoming high-level conference on delivering better environmental outcomes. CE Daily 2008-07-03T15:17:01+10:00 http://www.cedaily.com.au/nl06_news_selected.php?act=2&selkey=37046 Next week’s meeting in Japan of G8 leaders and other major economies provides an important opportunity to shift international climate policy away from the deeply flawed ‘targets and timetables’ approach, Reserve Bank board member Warwick McKibbin said today. McKibbin urged an approach based on ‘common actions’ rather than ‘common targets’. CE Daily 2008-07-03T12:42:32+10:00 http://www.cedaily.com.au/nl06_news_selected.php?act=2&selkey=37043 The Business Council of Australia will today throw its weight firmly behind emissions trading and warn business against overplaying the downside, while urging the government to listen to business concerns about what it says is the most crucial policy decision before the next election. CE Daily 2008-07-03T10:44:53+10:00 http://www.cedaily.com.au/nl06_news_selected.php?act=2&selkey=37038 * Tasmania issues new purchasing instructions on environmental impacts *Tasmania initiates container deposit inquiry * Rudd Government joins forces with Engineers Australia to overhaul infrastructure manual * Productivity Commission says review packaging covenant in 2010, questions labelling compliance programs * Queensland finalises environmental offsets policy CE Daily 2008-07-02T16:20:41+10:00 http://www.cedaily.com.au/nl06_news_selected.php?act=2&selkey=37033 Climate Change Minister Penny Wong today released a COAG paper outlining two possible approaches for an expanded national renewable energy target scheme. CE Daily 2008-07-02T13:53:06+10:00 http://www.cedaily.com.au/nl06_news_selected.php?act=2&selkey=37023 * EEO changes kick in, as new reporting scheme kicks off * Rudd and Turnbull spar on trading * Less than 4% of energy R&D directed to energy efficiency * Coles, Woolworths and IGA to trial voluntary plastic bag scheme * Environment groups launch ‘low carbon’ website, Greenpeace releases Hunter Valley report * SA EPA audit finds poor compliance in surface coatings sector CE Daily 2008-07-01T15:30:00+10:00 http://www.cedaily.com.au/nl06_news_selected.php?act=2&selkey=37022 Excluding petrol from Australia’s emissions trading scheme would result in consumers facing larger increases in electricity prices, the National Generators Forum warns. The NGF has also cautioned that the EIS for a $7.7 billion Santos LNG development in Queensland must be about much more than possible impacts on “the birds and the bees of Gladstone”, due to the project’s potential to stymie a shift from coal- to gas-fired generation. CE Daily 2008-07-01T14:54:13+10:00 http://www.cedaily.com.au/nl06_news_selected.php?act=2&selkey=37016 As the G8 summit looms, former UK Prime Minister Tony Blair releases a report telling G8 leaders the world needs a radical solution – involving cleaner coal and nuclear power – that steers the world away from carbon dependency. Meanwhile, California outlines plans for a 30% emissions cut by 2020. CE Daily 2008-06-30T16:53:31+10:00 http://www.cedaily.com.au/nl06_news_selected.php?act=2&selkey=37010 The NSW Government has tabled a bill in Parliament that would strengthen the duty to notify contamination and give the environment department new powers to regulate contaminated sites. CE Daily 2008-06-30T14:26:15+10:00 http://www.cedaily.com.au/nl06_news_selected.php?act=2&selkey=37008 Buyers and sellers of poor quality carbon offsets might both be breaching the Trade Practices Act, says a new ACCC guide on carbon claims. And if you haven’t offset all emissions associated with making and using a product, you shouldn’t make unqualified claims about its carbon neutrality, the consumer watchdog says. CE Daily 2008-06-30T11:53:25+10:00 http://www.cedaily.com.au/nl06_news_selected.php?act=2&selkey=37000 * ACCC deflates Goodyear tyre claims * AWU's nuclear vision 'fanciful' says coal mining union leader * Attorney-General highlights climate change national security risks * ACT signs Principles for Responsible Investment * NSW releases trade-exposed, emissions-intensive seminar papers * NSW flags contaminated sites auditor accreditation fee price hike Low-carbon economy poses massive skills challenge CE Daily 2008-06-27T15:40:15+10:00 http://www.cedaily.com.au/nl06_news_selected.php?act=2&selkey=36996 Most of the business community doesn't want emissions trading to start in 2010, shadow Climate Change and Environment Minister Greg Hunt tells CE Daily. CE Daily 2008-06-27T10:26:16+10:00 http://www.cedaily.com.au/nl06_news_selected.php?act=2&selkey=36990 Climate Change Minister Penny Wong this afternoon released long-awaited regulations for the national greenhouse gas and energy reporting scheme. CE Daily 2008-06-26T14:33:19+10:00 http://www.cedaily.com.au/nl06_news_selected.php?act=2&selkey=36984 With a new greenhouse and energy obligation set to kick in from Tuesday, Treasurer Wayne Swan this morning tabled in Parliament legislation to amend the National Greenhouse and Energy Reporting Act that established the reporting scheme. Meanwhile, the Government is set to release the Act's regulations in the next few hours. CE Daily 2008-06-26T11:51:42+10:00 http://www.cedaily.com.au/nl06_news_selected.php?act=2&selkey=36981 The investment community has a key role to play in "creating wealth worth having" by dramatically redirecting investment away from carbon and towards activities that don't undermine the natural wealth of the earth's atmosphere and biological systems, Climate Change Capital founder James Cameron has told a Sydney forum. CE Daily 2008-06-26T10:04:07+10:00 http://www.cedaily.com.au/nl06_news_selected.php?act=2&selkey=36975 * High emissions scenario could lead to 5°C warming by 2070 * Queensland minister launches 'low carbon' diet campaign * Government and Opposition shadow box on transport fuels * ACF calls for stronger renewables target * AWU chief warns of jobs going offshore * Xstrata refers open-cut coal mine to Rudd Government CE Daily 2008-06-25T15:39:20+10:00 http://www.cedaily.com.au/nl06_news_selected.php?act=2&selkey=36972 Last week, the Senate passed legislation – originally proposed by the Coalition – that included a schedule providing tax breaks for carbon sink forests. But, in a bizarre twist, the same provisions are in a separate tax bill currently before the Senate. This time around they have fallen foul of Greens senators Bob Brown and Christine Milne, along with Coalition senators Bill Heffernan and Barnaby Joyce, who have decried them as a tax rort. CE Daily 2008-06-25T13:14:55+10:00 http://www.cedaily.com.au/nl06_news_selected.php?act=2&selkey=36971 In the lead-up to next month's protest that aims to shut down Hunter Valley coal exports for 24 hours, one of the world's most eloquent cleaner coal critics spoke last week told a Sydney forum that climate change policies would be 'doomed to failure' if the world continues to exploit fossil fuel resources. Commentator and journalist George Monbiot called for 'direct action', drawing on his recent experience when he and a band of activists invaded a new, open-cut coal mine in the UK. CE Daily 2008-06-25T12:24:56+10:00 http://www.cedaily.com.au/nl06_news_selected.php?act=2&selkey=36963 Climate Change Minister Penny Wong today used the release of the latest greenhouse gas inventory data to accuse the Opposition of 'scare-mongering' on emissions trading. Meanwhile, Opposition Leader Brendan Nelson today warned that failing to get climate change policy right could cause 'enormous damage' to the economy and the environment. The Opposition will do what's right for the nation, even if it is not in its short-term political interests, Nelson added. CE Daily 2008-06-24T15:26:23+10:00 http://www.cedaily.com.au/nl06_news_selected.php?act=2&selkey=36960 Is your chief financial officer still reeling from the dawning realisation of the scale of your company's carbon liabilities and the huge challenge involved in keeping proper and timely account of them? No wonder. Chances are the way your company currently collects greenhouse gas data won't cut it when trading starts. CE Daily talks to Ernst & Young's Lorraine Stephenson about the complex task of integrating greenhouse gas data with traditional financial data.(plus audio) CE Daily 2008-06-24T13:30:05+10:00 http://www.cedaily.com.au/nl06_news_selected.php?act=2&selkey=36958 Senator Stephen Conroy, the Rudd Government's Deputy Leader in the Senate, yesterday defended including petrol in Australia's emissions trading scheme, telling Parliament that excluding it would result in 'lower market efficiencies' and would simply shift the burden elsewhere. CE Daily 2008-06-24T10:34:37+10:00 http://www.cedaily.com.au/nl06_news_selected.php?act=2&selkey=36955 * Carbon sink tax changes welcomed * NSW gazettes waste exemptions * NZ parliamentary committee proposes biofuels bill changes CE Daily 2008-06-23T16:22:57+10:00 http://www.cedaily.com.au/nl06_news_selected.php?act=2&selkey=36953 If carbon prices are high early on, the government will need to accompany the start of emissions trading with annual 'affordability payments' to help low- and middle-income households, says an economic analysis commissioned by the Climate Institute. But, even if carbon prices are high, rising incomes mean energy will become more affordable in the long-term for all households, it says. CE Daily 2008-06-23T15:40:09+10:00 http://www.cedaily.com.au/nl06_news_selected.php?act=2&selkey=36948 The Rudd Government is commissioning a major national risk assessment that will review the likely impacts of climate change on significant infrastructure and inform development of policies for infrastructure investment, maintenance and adaptation. As well as power, water, transport and communications, the analysis will focus on buildings and settlements and key facilities. CE Daily 2008-06-23T10:32:02+10:00 http://www.cedaily.com.au/nl06_news_selected.php?act=2&selkey=36942 Xstrata will make cleaner coal investments totalling $250 million over the next decade, Xstrata Coal chief executive Peter Freyberg said this afternoon. Freyberg said Australia must ensure a place for coal in the transition to a low-emission economy and warned the public must understand the sacrifices involved. CE Daily 2008-06-20T15:43:14+10:00 http://www.cedaily.com.au/nl06_news_selected.php?act=2&selkey=36939 NSW is making it mandatory for companies to implement energy savings measures. But are the company energy savings plans that list these projects out of date? Has the state government ensured a level playing field by scheduling all companies that trigger the threshold? And has too much grant money been redirected from business to households? Meanwhile, Australia's energy ministers are sitting on a cost-benefit analysis of the merits of a mandatory energy efficiency measure. CE Daily 2008-06-20T14:28:55+10:00 http://www.cedaily.com.au/nl06_news_selected.php?act=2&selkey=36927 * Ferguson tables CCS bills: 'liability lies where it falls' * Marine oil spills bill goes before Parliament * WA review native vegetation laws * EU emissions fall slightly * Shell urges CCS action, ex-BP chief says dismantle fossil fuel subsidies CE Daily 2008-06-19T13:01:54+10:00 http://www.cedaily.com.au/nl06_news_selected.php?act=2&selkey=36922 * Garnaut to hold town hall meetings * SA bag-banning bill goes before Parliament * Garrett tweaks impact assessment process for Great Barrier Reef * EPA Victoria issues greenhouse inventory * NSW seeks nominations to chair environmental education council CE Daily 2008-06-18T15:37:50+10:00