Profile: John Elkington
Recognised as the “global dean” of corporate social responsibility, he told the Minerals Council of Australia Sustainable Development conference in Adelaide this week to look beyond reporting and sustainability rankings. Don’t predict the future, but create it. He also introduced the “Phoenix Economy” pioneers.
The world’s `dean of corporate responsibility’, John Elkington delivered a keynote address at this year’s Minerals Council of Australia Sustainable Development conference in Adelaide (26-30 October).

Elkington has been at the forefront of the sustainable development movement for 30 years and is founder of consulting firm SustainAbility, a leading global adviser on corporate social responsibility and sustainability issues.

He originated the term `triple bottom line’, which measures corporate success against financial, environmental and social values.

The title of his address was “Unearthing the Future: Mining & Minerals in the Phoenix Economy”.

Here’s a few key points he mad:

‘The future of the mining industry is inseparable from the global pursuit of sustainable development.’

‘Materials stewardship is fundamental to sustainable development …’

Sustainable development:

Mining and minerals have come a long way—but journey just begun.

Social license to operate best achieved by integrated performance through supply chain— pushing upstream

Look beyond reporting and sustainability rankings—don’t predict the future, create it.

There is a large divide between the urgency of, and companies’ effectiveness in, addressing challenges.

High Urgency / High Effectiveness:
Climate change and corporate accountability emerge as sustainability strategy imperatives, given the high urgency, and perceived high effectiveness of companies to address them.
Companies will be expected to establish strong commitments on both accounts as a baseline for sustainability leadership.
From the ashes of the downturn, a new Phoenix Economy is self-assembling—focused on providing social and environmental solutions, where markets and governments have failed.
If the pioneers of the Phoenix Economy are to succeed, they will still need substantial assistance from governments, foundations, investors and businesses, and we identify urgent opportunities for facilitation, collaboration and support.
We also celebrate a roll call of ‘The Phoenix 50’ pioneers in the business of social innovation, nominated by entrepreneurs and other stakeholders.
Phoenix 50:
Aflatoun, AMEE, American Council on Renewable Energy (ACORE), Apopo, Aravind Eye Care System, Arup, Ashoka, Barack Obama Administration, Better Place, Business and Human Rights Resource Centre, BYD, C40, CellBazaar, CERES, Cleantech Group, Climate Change Capital, E + Co, Econcern, Generation Investment Management, GE’s Ecomagination, Global Impact Investing Network (GIIN), Global Footprint Network, Good Energy, Google, Grameen Group, Green for All – Van Jones, GSK, Health Care Without Harm, Himanshu Parikh Consulting Engineers, Innocentive, Institute for One World Health, Interpeace, J. Craig Venter Institute, Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers, Marine Stewardship Council, MaRS, Mothers2Mothers, Movimento Nacional dos Catadores, de Materiais Reciclaveis, MyC4, NovoNordisk and Oxford Health Alliance, Participant Media, Population and Community Development Association (PDA), Solarcentury, State of California ,Sustainable Asset Management (SAM), TNT, Virgance, World Business Council for Sustainable Development (WBSCD), World Resources Institute, World Toilet Organization
Elkington also told delegates about the Green Jobs in the US, based on ClanEdge Inc 2009 survey. The top US sectors for green jobs are:
1. Solar; 2. Biofuels & biomaterials; 3. Conservation & Efficiency; 4. Smart Grid; 5. Wind Power

The MCA’s Sustainable Development conference is recognised as the leading minerals industry forum for communicating new developments and leading practice in corporate social responsibility.

The conference was officially opened by the Hon Mike Rann MP, Premier of South Australia.

Conference topics include
• Energy & Climate Change;
• Regional & Community Development;
• Water Resource Stewardship;
• Protecting & Enhancing Social Licence;
• Sustainable Indigenous Communities;
• Land Use and Management; and
• Innovation & Emerging Technology.
More information from www.sd09.com.au

John Elkington

Founding Partner & Director, Volans (2008 to date)
Founder & Non-Executive Director, SustainAbility (1987–2008)
Personal website: www.johnelkington.com

Co-founder of SustainAbility in 1987 (Chair from 1995 -2005), and Founding Partner & Director of Volans, John Elkington is a world authority on corporate responsibility and sustainable development.

In 2004, BusinessWeek described him as “a dean of the corporate responsibility movement for three decades.” In 2008, The Evening Standard named John among the ’1000 Most Influential People’ in London, describing him as “a true green business guru,” and as “an evangelist for corporate social and environmental responsibility long before it was fashionable.”

Volans, launched in April 2008 aims to find, explore, advise on and build innovative scalable solutions to the great global divides that overshadow the future. Volans’ first report, The Phoenix Economy: 50 Pioneers in the Business of Social Innovation, explores a new economic order rising from the ashes with a new generation of innovators, entrepreneurs and investors accelerating the changes essential for delivering scaleable sustainable solutions to the world.

The study reveals how these groups are thinking as they develop and scale market solutions to a broad array of economic, social, environmental and governance challenges. The report launched in March 2009 at the Skoll World Forum with backing from the Skoll Foundation, SustainAbility, Singapore’s Economic Development Board, Net Impact and the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP).

Over time, John has authored or co-authored 17 books. His most recent explores the work of leading social and environmental entrepreneurs. Co-authored with Pamela Hartigan, Director of the The Skoll Centre for Social Entrepreneurship at the Saïd Business School, University of Oxford, The Power of Unreasonable People: How Social Entrepreneurs Create Markets That Change the World, was published by Harvard Business School Press on 5 February 2008.

John’s previous books include 1988’s million-selling Green Consumer Guide and Cannibals with Forks: The Triple Bottom Line of 21st Century Business (1997). He has also written hundreds of articles for newspapers, magazines and journal and has written or co-written some 40 published reports.

In terms of other hats, John is a Visiting Professor at the Doughty Centre for Corporate Responsibility at the Cranfield School of Management. He chairs The Environment Foundation and the Aflatoun Impact and Policy Analysis Steering Group and is an Honorary Fellow of The Hub and also the Institute of Green Professionals.
John is also a member of strategic advisory boards for, among others: 2degrees Venture Partners; the Dow Jones Sustainability Indexes; EcoVadis; Gaia Energy; the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI), Greenopolis.com; Instituto Ethos; Physic Ventures; Polecat UK and a Cleantech Fund developed by Zouk Ventures.
John is also a Senior Advisor to the Business & Human Rights Resource Centre, a member of the WWF Council of Ambassadors, a member of the Evian Group Brain Trust and Council of Global Thought Leaders, the Global Leaders Academy; the Sea Change Advisory Board. John has recently joined the newly formed Cleantech Group LLC’s Cleantech Innovation Council. John was a Faculty member of the World Economic Forum from 2002-2008.
Source: www.volans.com, www.sustainabilty.com and www.johnelkington.com
as the “global dean” of corporate social responsibility, he told the Minerals Council of Australia Sustainable Development conference in Adelaide this week to look beyond reporting and sustainability rankings. Don’t predict the future, but create it. He also introduced the “Phoenix Economy” pioneers.
The world’s `dean of corporate responsibility’, John Elkington delivered a keynote address at this year’s Minerals Council of Australia Sustainable Development conference in Adelaide (26-30 October).

Elkington has been at the forefront of the sustainable development movement for 30 years and is founder of consulting firm SustainAbility, a leading global adviser on corporate social responsibility and sustainability issues.

He originated the term `triple bottom line’, which measures corporate success against financial, environmental and social values.

The title of his address was “Unearthing the Future: Mining & Minerals in the Phoenix Economy”.

Here’s a few key points he mad:

‘The future of the mining industry is inseparable from the global pursuit of sustainable development.’

‘Materials stewardship is fundamental to sustainable development …’

Sustainable development:

Mining and minerals have come a long way—but journey just begun.

Social license to operate best achieved by integrated performance through supply chain— pushing upstream

Look beyond reporting and sustainability rankings—don’t predict the future, create it.

There is a large divide between the urgency of, and companies’ effectiveness in, addressing challenges.

High Urgency / High Effectiveness:
Climate change and corporate accountability emerge as sustainability strategy imperatives, given the high urgency, and perceived high effectiveness of companies to address them.
Companies will be expected to establish strong commitments on both accounts as a baseline for sustainability leadership.
From the ashes of the downturn, a new Phoenix Economy is self-assembling—focused on providing social and environmental solutions, where markets and governments have failed.
If the pioneers of the Phoenix Economy are to succeed, they will still need substantial assistance from governments, foundations, investors and businesses, and we identify urgent opportunities for facilitation, collaboration and support.
We also celebrate a roll call of ‘The Phoenix 50’ pioneers in the business of social innovation, nominated by entrepreneurs and other stakeholders.
Phoenix 50:
Aflatoun, AMEE, American Council on Renewable Energy (ACORE), Apopo, Aravind Eye Care System, Arup, Ashoka, Barack Obama Administration, Better Place, Business and Human Rights Resource Centre, BYD, C40, CellBazaar, CERES, Cleantech Group, Climate Change Capital, E + Co, Econcern, Generation Investment Management, GE’s Ecomagination, Global Impact Investing Network (GIIN), Global Footprint Network, Good Energy, Google, Grameen Group, Green for All – Van Jones, GSK, Health Care Without Harm, Himanshu Parikh Consulting Engineers, Innocentive, Institute for One World Health, Interpeace, J. Craig Venter Institute, Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers, Marine Stewardship Council, MaRS, Mothers2Mothers, Movimento Nacional dos Catadores, de Materiais Reciclaveis, MyC4, NovoNordisk and Oxford Health Alliance, Participant Media, Population and Community Development Association (PDA), Solarcentury, State of California ,Sustainable Asset Management (SAM), TNT, Virgance, World Business Council for Sustainable Development (WBSCD), World Resources Institute, World Toilet Organization
Elkington also told delegates about the Green Jobs in the US, based on ClanEdge Inc 2009 survey. The top US sectors for green jobs are:
1. Solar; 2. Biofuels & biomaterials; 3. Conservation & Efficiency; 4. Smart Grid; 5. Wind Power

The MCA’s Sustainable Development conference is recognised as the leading minerals industry forum for communicating new developments and leading practice in corporate social responsibility.

The conference was officially opened by the Hon Mike Rann MP, Premier of South Australia.

Conference topics include
• Energy & Climate Change;
• Regional & Community Development;
• Water Resource Stewardship;
• Protecting & Enhancing Social Licence;
• Sustainable Indigenous Communities;
• Land Use and Management; and
• Innovation & Emerging Technology.
More information from www.sd09.com.au

John Elkington

Founding Partner & Director, Volans (2008 to date)
Founder & Non-Executive Director, SustainAbility (1987–2008)
Personal website: www.johnelkington.com

Co-founder of SustainAbility in 1987 (Chair from 1995 -2005), and Founding Partner & Director of Volans, John Elkington is a world authority on corporate responsibility and sustainable development.

In 2004, BusinessWeek described him as “a dean of the corporate responsibility movement for three decades.” In 2008, The Evening Standard named John among the ’1000 Most Influential People’ in London, describing him as “a true green business guru,” and as “an evangelist for corporate social and environmental responsibility long before it was fashionable.”

Volans, launched in April 2008 aims to find, explore, advise on and build innovative scalable solutions to the great global divides that overshadow the future. Volans’ first report, The Phoenix Economy: 50 Pioneers in the Business of Social Innovation, explores a new economic order rising from the ashes with a new generation of innovators, entrepreneurs and investors accelerating the changes essential for delivering scaleable sustainable solutions to the world.

The study reveals how these groups are thinking as they develop and scale market solutions to a broad array of economic, social, environmental and governance challenges. The report launched in March 2009 at the Skoll World Forum with backing from the Skoll Foundation, SustainAbility, Singapore’s Economic Development Board, Net Impact and the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP).

Over time, John has authored or co-authored 17 books. His most recent explores the work of leading social and environmental entrepreneurs. Co-authored with Pamela Hartigan, Director of the The Skoll Centre for Social Entrepreneurship at the Saïd Business School, University of Oxford, The Power of Unreasonable People: How Social Entrepreneurs Create Markets That Change the World, was published by Harvard Business School Press on 5 February 2008.

John’s previous books include 1988’s million-selling Green Consumer Guide and Cannibals with Forks: The Triple Bottom Line of 21st Century Business (1997). He has also written hundreds of articles for newspapers, magazines and journal and has written or co-written some 40 published reports.

In terms of other hats, John is a Visiting Professor at the Doughty Centre for Corporate Responsibility at the Cranfield School of Management. He chairs The Environment Foundation and the Aflatoun Impact and Policy Analysis Steering Group and is an Honorary Fellow of The Hub and also the Institute of Green Professionals.
John is also a member of strategic advisory boards for, among others: 2degrees Venture Partners; the Dow Jones Sustainability Indexes; EcoVadis; Gaia Energy; the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI), Greenopolis.com; Instituto Ethos; Physic Ventures; Polecat UK and a Cleantech Fund developed by Zouk Ventures.
John is also a Senior Advisor to the Business & Human Rights Resource Centre, a member of the WWF Council of Ambassadors, a member of the Evian Group Brain Trust and Council of Global Thought Leaders, the Global Leaders Academy; the Sea Change Advisory Board. John has recently joined the newly formed Cleantech Group LLC’s Cleantech Innovation Council. John was a Faculty member of the World Economic Forum from 2002-2008.
Source: www.volans.com, www.sustainabilty.com and www.johnelkington.com

Will it be Wonderful, Wonderful Copenhagen?
European Union leaders offered to contribute money to a global fund to help developing countries tackle global warming, hoping to kick-start stalled talks on a new agreement on climate change. Angela Merkel, the German chancellor says Europe is leading the way. David Suzuki says “we have no time to waste. Copenhagen is our moment.”
By JAMES KANTER and STEPHEN CASTLE in New York Times (30 October 2009):
European Union leaders on Friday offered to contribute money to a global fund to help developing countries tackle global warming hoping kick-start stalled talks on a new agreement on climate change.
But E.U. leaders disappointed climate campaigners by making the offer conditional on donations from other parts of the world and by failing to decide how much Europe would contribute to a global pot of up to 50 billion euros by 2020.
Swedish Prime Minister Fredrik Reinfeldt insisted the E.U. now had “a very strong negotiating position” to press for a global deal at United Nations talks in Copenhagen in December that are aimed at agreeing a successor accord to the Kyoto Protocol.
Angela Merkel, the German chancellor, also stressed that Europe was leading the way.
“There is no-one else among the industrialized nations” to have made as concrete an offer of climate finance, Ms. Merkel told a press conference in Brussels.
But environmental groups took a mostly negative view of the results of the two-day summit, saying E.U. leaders had chosen vague, global figures and thereby diminished chances of unblocking climate negotiations ahead of the meeting in Copenhagen.
“Europe has failed once again to say how much it is prepared to contribute for climate finance,” said Sonja Meister, a climate campaign coordinator for Friends of the Earth Europe. “In every way the EU is shirking its historical responsibilities and blocking progress towards the just and fair agreement the world needs in Copenhagen,” she said.
The European Commission had called on E.U. leaders to make an offer of up to 15 billion euros annually by 2020.
Mr. Reinfeldt, the Swedish prime minister, said leaders had instead agreed that developing nations needed about 100 billion euros annually by 2020 and that, of that sum, between 22 billion euros and 50 billion euros would have to come from public funds, as opposed to private sources like investments in carbon-reduction projects.
Mr. Reinfeldt also said that E.U. nations could make a voluntary decision to contribute to a so-called fast-track mechanism that would make funds available immediately to developing countries.
Jose Manuel Barroso, the president of the European Commission, put a brave face on the result, underlining that the trade bloc should not be “naive” going into the negotiations in Copenhagen that are set to begin in fewer than six weeks.
“Our offer is not a blank check,” said Mr. Barroso. “We are ready to act, if our partners deliver,” he said.
E.U. officials said that Ms. Merkel, the German chancellor, who had been reticent over making any European commitment, had been persuaded that the figures were only conditional on steps being taken by other nations.
Source: www.nytimes.com
By David Suzuki

The buzz around the December UN climate summit in Copenhagen is increasing. Some of you may be wondering what it’s all about. Why is this one meeting so important? And does it really matter if it succeeds or fails?
The answer is that it matters a lot, especially if we want to tackle global warming rather than just talking and arguing about it.

Global warming is a global problem requiring global solutions. The atmosphere doesn’t stay within federal or provincial boundaries. It is a global commons. Greenhouse gases emitted in Canadian provinces mix with those from every other part of the world and affect everyone. A molecule of carbon is a molecule of carbon. It has the same impact on the environment whether it came from a smokestack in Toronto or a taxi’s tailpipe in Kuala Lumpur.

Every nation must do its part. And each country needs reassurance that others are also acting. We need a global agreement that is legally binding with rules clearly outlined.

The science of climate change is evolving rapidly. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change’s last report is now two years old, and the research in that report is more than four years old. Recent scientific information shows that the impacts of climate change are happening much more quickly than expected. The polar ice cap is melting at an astonishing rate. Ocean levels are rising more rapidly than predicted. And weather-related disasters are mounting.

Leading scientific institutions such as the U.S. National Academy of Sciences, the U.K. Royal Society, and the Royal Society of Canada have declared that current scientific information points to a need for immediate action.

We have no time to waste. Copenhagen is our moment. In fact, two years ago the world agreed that the Copenhagen summit would be the deadline for forging the next global agreement to strengthen and build on the Kyoto Protocol.

Kyoto was always considered to be the first step by industrialized countries, whose fossil-fuel-powered growth created the problem. Establishing the legal framework was an important part of that first step, as were very modest emission reductions. But Copenhagen has to be more than just another small step. Science suggests the issue is urgent, so this step needs to be much bigger if we want our actions to keep pace with increasing climatic changes.

Industrialized countries need to accept binding commitments to reduce their global warming pollution much more dramatically in the next phase of the Kyoto Protocol, after 2012. But we also need to craft a companion treaty to Kyoto, one that lays out the kinds of actions that major developing countries, like India and Indonesia, will take to curb their emissions.

A recent study commissioned by Global Humanitarian Forum president and former UN secretary-general Kofi Annan indicates that 50 of the world’s poorest countries collectively produce less than one per cent of the global greenhouse gas emissions that cause global warming. Yet, these very same countries have been disproportionally affected by climate change. Thus, an essential part of any fair climate agreement must include support from industrialized countries to poorer nations – support in the form of financing and clean technologies so that poorer nations can wean themselves off fossil fuels and better adapt to the impacts of climate change.

This principle – that rich countries like ours have filled up the atmosphere with pollution in the course of our development, and that it’s now our responsibility to assist less-developed countries to follow a clean path to prosperity – is one that goes back to 1992. It was enshrined in the Rio Convention and reiterated in Kyoto, and again two years ago in Bali. But we have yet to meet that promise, and it is time we did.

It is now up to our global leaders – presidents and prime ministers, ministers of finance and environment – to be visionary, to look beyond shorter-term political timelines and imagine a future world of security and prosperity, where our homes and workplaces are fed by clean energy. And it is up to global citizens to ensure that they do.

Visionary leadership requires active and engaged citizens to keep the politicians’ feet to the fire. Your efforts have never been needed more to help make this happen.
Source: www.davidsuzuki.org

With 80% of the population and infrastructure along the coast, Australia is particularly vulnerable to climate change impacts, including sea level rise, says Government Climate Change Committee chair Jennie George, when releasing the Coastal Zone report.
The time to act is now: Australian coastal report released by Climate Change Committee
The House of Representatives Climate Change, Water, Environment and the Arts Committee has released its inquiry report, Managing our Coastal Zone in a Changing Climate: the Time to Act is Now.
The report calls for new governance arrangements for Australia’s coastal zone and makes recommendations to improve management of climate change and environmental impacts on the coast.
“The key message that emerged from the inquiry is the need for national leadership in managing Australia’s coastal zone in the context of climate change. The Committee’s recommendations focus on how national leadership can be provided in a collaborative framework with state and local government and how we can better engage the community in this initiative”, Committee Chair Ms Jennie George said.
“This is an issue of national significance. Some 80 per cent of the Australian population live in the coastal zone, and the concentration of Australia’s population and infrastructure along the coast makes us particularly vulnerable to climate change impacts, including sea level rise”.
“Climate change has added a new urgency to improving management of our coastal zone, underlining the message of the Committee’s inquiry that ‘the time to act is now’”, Ms George said.
The inquiry generated a high level of interest from the Australian community, with over 100 written submissions and 180 exhibits. The Committee heard from over 170 witnesses at 28 public hearings held around Australia. The report’s 47 recommendations include:
• a call for national leadership
• a COAG Intergovernmental Agreement on the Coastal Zone, which defines the roles and responsibilities of the three tiers of government involved in coastal zone management
• urgent inquiries into legal and insurance issues relating to climate change impacts on the coastal zone
• improved emergency management arrangements in the event of a climate change related coastal disaster
• an awareness campaign to alert coastal communities to the key challenges facing the coastal zone
• a study into the vulnerability of the Torres Strait to the impacts of climate change
• a comprehensive national assessment of coastal infrastructure vulnerability to sea level rise
• establishment of a system of national coastal zone environmental accounts,
• expansion of coastal areas protected within Australia’s National Reserve System,
• an increase in the number of coastal wetlands classified as Ramsar sites and
• implementation of a National Shorebirds Protection Strategy
• establishment of a National Coastal Zone Database to improve access to information
More information
Visit: Standing Committee on Climate Change, Water, Environment and the Arts – Inquiry into climate change and environmental impacts on coastal communities
Read: Managing our coastal zone in a changing climate: the time to act is now (report)
Source: www.aph.gov.au

Fossil Fuels & Flood Fears
Mayor of Gold Coast Ron Clarke admitted he was most concerned about the repercussions of climate change on his city when he welcomed delegates to the Carbon Market Expo and the Climate Change Summit, while the world’s first global trade exchange with an efficient end to end electronic process for carbon credits was launched at the Expo.
Mayor of Gold Coast Ron Clarke has expressed concern at the Carbon Market Expo that so many people in Australia, in this state and this city don’t realise the serious repercussions of Climate change. And the Gold Coast is one particular part of Australia most at risk.
We have 70 kilometres of coastline. We have 50,000 homes built on flood plains. We also have 500 kilometres of canals where houses are located. Rising sea levels are a great threat to us.
We need solutions. We need politicians to realise the importance of action. This city is committed to become carbon neutral by 2020.
This is a very serious subject with high repercussions.
We have a city that is highly reliant on the private car and fossil fuels. Our public transport infrastructure is behind the times. We have a lot to do.
As Mayor of Gold Coast City, I’m delighted to welcome you all to the Carbon Market Expo Australasia 2009, the premier event of its kind held in Australasia.

High-profile events like this are of tremendous importance to the Gold Coast as contributors to both our regional economy and our increasing prominence an international corporate and convention venue.

Our vibrant and diverse region offers convention and accommodation facilities that are second to none, as well as a unique range of natural and built attractions that make a wide range of activities available as part of the pre- or post-expo program.

As well as our famous 70 kilometres of pristine coastline, the Gold Coast region is also home to 100,000 hectares of World Heritage-listed rainforest and more waterways than Venice and Amsterdam combined, including 500 kilometres of canals. And we’re only too aware of the importance of protecting these precious environmental assets for future generations to enjoy.

Accordingly, the Gold Coast City Council aims to become carbon-neutral by 2020, and see the staging of events like the Carbon Market Expo Australasia 2009 as a sign that we’re not alone in seeking such an outcome. And as we all know, it’s information sharing and positive collaboration that will deliver the best overall results in this regard.

Our city supports numerous renewable energy and clean-tech businesses, and is ideally placed to become a regional hub for carbon market activity as this sector develops within Australia and across the broader Asia-Pacific region.

As well as this, our tertiary education sector provides access to cutting-edge research networks and a steady supply of highly skilled graduates with specialised learning in this exciting new realm, while Business GC, the city-funded economic development agency can help potential investors to facilitate access to funding, location selection and networking opportunities. In short, the Gold Coast is the place to be if you’re looking to move into professional carbon market operations.

In closing, I would I wish you the very best for a successful expo, which I’m sure will be an informative and inspiring experience.

Coinciding with the Carbon Market Expo, the Gold Coast City Council organised a one day Climate Change Summit bringing together community, business and Government representatives to explore and come up with principles that would provide the basis for ongoing action to address climate change mitigation and adaption.
Queensland Minister of Climate Change and Sustainabiity, Kate Jones spoke at the conclusion of the event telling of her state’s moves on climate change and urging serious consideration of the principles for further action by all attending.
Ken Hickson (ABC Carbon) was a participant in the Summit, as well as a delegate at the three day Carbon Market Expo.
Source: www.goldcoast.qld.gov.au
Launched at Carbon Market Expo was the world’s first global trade exchange with an efficient end to end electronic process for carbon credits has arrived.
Carbon Trade Exchange (CTX), will commence online trading in early 2010.
Established using the award winning software and trading platform developed for the world’s largest credit (or non cash) trading platform in the world – Bartercard, Carbon Trade Exchange comes with a great track record and credentials having facilitated over 15 million transactions or an estimated 50 Billion Credit Units valued at over $20 Billion in 20 Currencies.
By using the same end to end electronic process of Bartercard, the Carbon Trade Exchange will aid the growth and transparency of the global carbon market.
Carbon Trade Exchange will enable carbon buyers and sellers from around the world to trade every major voluntary carbon standard in an efficient end to end electronic process. This B2B and B2C exchange has a front-end trading platform supported by back-end administration processes that can accept all major international currencies, and can be plugged into any developing or existing market. It will interface and transact with all carbon industry participants and embrace the existing broker network, eliminating the need for over the counter transactions.
It will initially transact voluntary credits, however work has also now commenced to support carbon trading within the regulated market.
The Carbon Trade Exchange will provide the technology that links the industry, provides transparency and grows the market. Join today to gain the many benefits of membership.
Source: www.carbontradexchange.com

Affordable Carbon Scheme Tabled
Australia’s coal-mining industry can afford the cost of carbon reduction proposed by the government’s climate change legislation, Greg Combet, the junior climate change minister told the Carbon Market Expo and by the end of the week, Government’s emissions trading scheme legislation was re-introduced after being voted down in August.
Reported The Age (27 October 2009):
Australia’s coal-mining industry can afford the cost of carbon reduction proposed by the government’s climate change legislation, said Greg Combet, the junior climate change minister.
The cost may amount to about 80 Australian cents per metric ton of coal produced, assuming a carbon permit cost of $25 per ton, Mr Combet told a conference on the Gold Coast, Australia.
”At around a $25 a ton carbon price, the median level of liability per ton of saleable coal in the industry is around 80 (Australian) cents per ton,” Mr Combet said. ”That is a carbon liability that the industry can bear.” State government royalties are currently around $12 a ton, he added.
Coal mining companies in Australia are lobbying to have greater assistance provided to them by the government under the proposed carbon reduction legislation, which expected to be voted on by both houses of parliament by the end of November.
The ruling Labor Party has committed to provide assistance to coal mines on a case-by-case basis related to the amount of greenhouse gases each pit produces, Mr Combet said.
”Coal is five per cent of our greenhouse gas emissions, that means that if we were to exclude the emissions from coal, other sectors of the economy have to work harder to achieve our emissions reduction targets,” said Mr Combet, a former coal-mining engineer and union leader.
The industry ”can’t pull the wool over my eyes,” Mr Combet said, adding that he believed the government’s proposals would still ensure the viability of coal mining in Australia, the world’s largest exporter of the fuel.
Coal mining in Australia often leads to the release of methane, a gas 26 times worse than carbon dioxide in global warming terms, Mr Combet said, adding that some mines would have ”significant carbon liability” in terms of the proposed Carbon Pollution Reduction Scheme legislation.
”I believe the best response is to look at the profile of methane emissions across the coal industry and target the government’s assistance accordingly to alleviate where that liability is the most significant,” he said.
Mr Combet said businesses that embrace clean technologies will prosper while those shunning climate change will fall behind, carbon market experts have been warned.
He made the comments while opening the Carbon Market Expo 2009 on the Gold Coast – a three-day forum for carbon market business experts from across the country.
And with just 40 days until world leaders meet for UN climate talks in Copenhagen, Mr Combet said now is the time to act.
”This is a critical time in the climate change agenda – nationally and internationally,” he told the audience. ”It is squarely in Australia’s national interest to show up at the negotiating table in Copenhagen with a plan to deliver our targets.”
To do so would enable Australia to play a constructive role in negotiations, he said.
The Government’s emissions trading scheme legislation was re-introduced into the House of Representatives last Friday after being voted down in August.
The Opposition would prefer a vote on the legislation after the December 7 talks in Copenhagen.
Mr Combet stressed that Australian businesses were calling for more details about the framework that would govern future carbon pollution reduction.
”The business community in Australia is calling for investment certainty so that they can commit the necessary investment to start to transition the Australian economy to a low carbon future,” he told the audience.
The conference delegates were at the forefront of the country’s green sectors, he said.
”Demand for clean technology, low carbon goods and services and adaptive know-how will continue to grow and those businesses which recognise this and respond now will be well placed into the future,” he said.
”This is why it is negligent for those who don’t believe in climate change to use the costs of acting as an excuse to delay action,” he said.
”Whether they believe climate change is real or not, they cannot allow Australia to become irrelevant as the global economy and our competitors move to a low pollution future.”
Source: www.theage.com.au

The Cost of Avoiding Catastrophe
“The cost to the global economy in 2030 – 21 years from now – will be no more than 3% of the global GDP,” Rajendra Pachauri, the chairman of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change told the Carbon Market Expo via video link. Sustainable Jamboree’s Ngaire McGaw reports on what she discovered at the important carbon market and climate change events this past week.
By Ben Sharples for Bloomberg (27 October 2009):
The cost of cutting greenhouse gas emissions to avoid the impact of climate change may amount to 3 percent of the world’s economic output, said Rajendra Pachauri, the chairman of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change.
“The cost to the global economy in 2030, so that’s 21 years from now, will be no more than 3 percent of the global GDP,” he told the CarbonExpo Australasia conference on the Gold Coast, Australia today via video link.
Governments from around the world will meet in Copenhagen starting Dec. 7 for the final round of talks on a climate accord to replace the 1997 Kyoto Protocol, which expires in 2012. The negotiations are being run by the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change.
The world can only afford to have carbon emissions rise for another six years to avoid “catastrophes” from global warming, said Pachauri, chairman of the panel that shared the Nobel Peace Prize with former U.S. Vice President Al Gore in 2007.
“We have no choice but to see that collectively global emissions of greenhouse gases are brought down as rapidly as possible,” he said. “By 2015, we have to ensure that we reach a peak and beyond that year, we should bring about the reduction.”
Source: www.bloomberg.com
Convenor of Sustainable Jamboree, Ngaire McGaw, who attended both the three day Carbon Market Expo and the Climate Change at Work Conference last week, gave this exclusive report on what she discovered:
Both events were well attended and gave me a personal positivity boost – it was encouraging to see so many organisations actively engaged in climate change abatement and adaption.”
In particular, big business is looking to invest in the new opportunities, manage their risks or even just find ways to be good corporate citizens… although not always in their own backyard.
I was startled at some presentations which showed a large proportion of businesses have little awareness that they will be impacted by flow on effects throughout the economy relating to the inevitable emissions trading environment and the National Greenhouse and Energy Reporting System.
However, some businesses are on the front foot including Price Waterhouse Coopers, Fuji Xerox and Fosters.”
I was particularly encouraged by the Environment Business Australia’s Fiona Wain who reminded those present about the urgency of addressing climate change and advocating strongly for a range of specific swift policy options to attack the problem.

http://www.environmentbusiness.com.au/

I was also encouraged by the government and industry work being done to take advantage of biosequestration, particularly in the area of soil carbon.
“The CSIRO is putting a lot of work into ways to measure and verify the level of carbon in soils which can be increased over time through good farming practices.”

http://www.csiro.au/people/Brian.Keating.html

It sounds like if we get the market structures right, this could make farmers some money one day.
One of topics which inspired me was the idea of green jobs.
This was discussed at both events, with many agreeing that potentially all jobs could be greened.
For those who missed the presentations, it’s not too late to access presenters or information.
A key speaker at the Carbon Market, Martijin Wilder from Baker & McKenzie law firm will discuss the proposed Australian Emissions Trading Scheme: Context and Critique at Southbank’s Ship Inn on 11 November http://www.griffith.edu.au/law/socio-legal-research-centre/news-events
Also keep your eye out for the release of a report on the readiness of small to medium enterprises which will come from the Premier, Anna Bligh in early November. www.industry.qld.gov.au
Another source of information which business should monitor closely, is the Australian Industry Group AIG) which had a presence at both events. http://www.aigroup.com.au/policy/reports
At the Climate Change at Work Conference in Brisbane, the AIG noted that the way we are communicating climate change messages needs to be urgently modified as many male dominated industries will continue to be left behind in terms of preparing their businesses
The Climate Change at Work Conference was organised by the University of Sydney’s Workplace Research Group: http://www.wrc.org.au/
Copies of presentations are available from Workplace Research Centre.
For more information and access to presentations a the Carbon Market Expo, go to: http://www.carbonexpo.com.au/
Ngaire McGaw is organiser of the community group in brisbane called Sustainable Jamboree and has organised workshops on the Low Carbon Diet, solar for home and a 350 event. More information from http://sustainablejamboree.org

Greening of Industry Skills Studied
Companies in Australia appear to be relatively confident that they possess the green skills needed to handle climate change. This from Aaron Johnstone of the Australian Industry Group, who spoke at the Climate Change@Work conference in Brisbane on 29 October.
Companies in Australia appear to be relatively confident that they possess the green skills needed to handle climate change. This from Aaron Johnstone, of the Australian Industry Group, who spoke at the Climate Change@Work conference in Brisbane on 29 October and gave insight into the findings of the latest research on skills in Australia and in particular reference to green jobs.

The Australian Industry Group/Deloitte CEO survey just released, Skilling Business in Tough Times, has highlighted the strong pressures on employment and training during the downturn and the efforts by companies to retain and up-skill their staff.

The survey of 500 CEOs in businesses of all sizes, found that as a consequence of the 2008/09 downturn the overall expenditure on training by business will be reduced by 4.1% in 2009/10. A third of businesses reported plans to reduce training expenditure and four out of five of those companies are reducing their training budgets by more than 20%.
Green skills
Confidence in current green skills of business
Overall companies appear to be relatively confident that they possess the green skills needed to handle climate change. 64.0% of firms indicated that they are either very confident (11.9% of firms) or moderately confident (52.1% of firms) of having the necessary skills.
Occupations in which green skills need improvement
Those occupations with closest engagement with the production process and those involved in directing operations, managers, were identified as being most in need of green skills improvement.
24.9% of respondents identified labourers and process workers as needing green skills improvement along with 23.7% identifying managers and 17.9% identifying technicians and trades workers.
Technical areas in which green skills need to be improved
The key technical areas where the workforce’s green skills are perceived as in need of improvement are waste management (cited by 26.9% of firms); energy and/or water usage (20.9%); working better with current technologies (14.4%); improvement of business practices (13.4%); and new environmental technologies (10.1%).
Frequency of green skills training
53% of firms don’t know how often they will need to train staff to deal with climate change. In part, this may reflect that, to date, the implications of climate change remain uncertain.
Source: www.aigroup.com.au
At the Climate Change @ Work Conference, Greg Withers, Assistant Director-General, Office of Climate Change set out Queensland’s policies and action to deal with climate change and gave reference to key opportunities regarding green jobs. For more information www.climatechange.qld.gov.au
Rohan Anderson of Energy Skills Queensland – www.energyskillsqld.com.au – and Alex Scott of the Queensland Public Sector Union – www.qpsu.org.au – both set out green job opportunities and skill development needs in Queensland.
For more information on the conference programme and presentations contact Workplace Research centre. www.wrc.org.au

CCS Not Viable For 20 Years
Clean coal is not viable until the carbon price reaches a minimum of A$60 a tonne – a level the Australian government does not anticipate until almost 2030 – according to an audit by the Rudd government’s own global carbon capture and storage institute, says its CEO Nick Otter.
Lenore Taylor, National correspondent for The Australian (29 October 2009):
CLEAN coal power stations are not viable until the carbon price reaches a minimum of $60 a tonne – a level the Australian government does not anticipate until almost 2030 – according to an audit by the Rudd government’s own global carbon capture and storage institute.
The new $100million-a-year institute found the business case for clean coal technology could only work if governments helped build the first commercial-size CCS power plants on a “field of dreams”, or “build it and they will come”, basis.
“A viable business case for commercial-scale, integrated projects has not been established at this time for coal-fired power generation and other large CO2-emitting industries,” the report states.
“Without policies and legislation to assign a value to CO2 … industry has limited incentive to install CCS facilities … What could make the business case work … is the ‘field of dreams’ or the ‘build it and they will come’ option. This involves governments working in partnership with industry and the community to develop, finance and build common user transport and storage infrastructure.”
Global CCS Institute chief executive Nick Otter said government-subsidised demonstration projects could bring costs of future CCS power stations down “substantially”.
“The CO2 price now is not capable of taking the technology forward,” Mr Otter said. “That’s why you need these government incentives.”
The Rudd government has promised $2.4 billion to build CCS demonstration projects over the next nine years and, when he re-launched the global institute beside US President Barack Obama at the G8 meeting in Italy in July, Kevin Rudd said if the world was serious about climate change it had to face the “practical challenge” of what to do about coal.
According to the audit only seven carbon capture and storage projects are operating around the world- all on gas processing plants.
Coal power plants are among the other 55 planned commercial scale projects.
But the report finds that the cheapest CCS technology – oxyfuel combustion – only becomes viable at a carbon price of about $60 a tonne. Another technology, integrated gasification combined cycle, becomes viable at about $80 a tonne and a third – natural gas combined cycle – at about $112 a tonne.
It cites international research that found the cost of plants could fall by between 10 and 18per cent once the first demonstration operations had been installed.
It says that “arguably” the ambitious goal set by the G8 last year to have 20 large-scale demonstration plants built by next year could be met.
But to meet the goal governments would need to provide direct funding, introduce a carbon price and take on the liability for the possibility that underground stores could leak, as the Australian government has done. Governments also need to help identify potential storage sites.
Treasury modelling of the Rudd government’s emissions trading scheme assumed carbon capture and storage would be deployed by 2033, at a price of $80 a tonne.
The technology is central to the government’s plans to meet its emission reduction targets.
In a recent speech, Resources Minister Martin Ferguson said it was “becoming increasingly clear that no serious response to climate change can ignore the need to accept fossil fuels as part of our shared future”.
“As the world’s largest exporter of coal and a nation which derives around 80 per cent of its electricity from coal, it is vital that we make technological progress on carbon capture and storage – and soon,” Mr Ferguson said.
Source: www.theaustralian.news.com.au

Investing in Avoided Deforestation
The World Bank says six developing countries will join five western nations, including the United States and Australia, to combat climate change by managing their forestry resources better, while Carbon Planet’s Dave Sag reports that forestry credit projects are planned or underway in Papua New Guinea and Malaysia.
The World Bank says six developing countries will join five western nations, including the United States and Australia, to combat climate change by managing their forestry resources better.
The Forest Investment Program is meeting for the first time in Washington today to start the program, and discuss the criteria for selecting countries that could benefit most from the effort.
Brazil and India are among the developing countries who’ll join donor nations including Australia, Britain and the United States, that have jointly pledged some 380 million dollars.
Source: www.skynews.com.au
m2m and Carbon Planet Limited
• One of the largest forestry carbon credit deals signed
• Contract for sale of 10m forestry carbon credits executed
• Gross sale value on settlement in excess of US$45 million
m2m Corporation Limited (“m2m”) (ASX: “MCL”) has been advised by Carbon Planet Limited (“Carbon Planet”) that a Voluntary Carbon Unit Purchase Agreement (“VCUPA”) has been signed by Carbon Planet and a large European Carbon Credit company for the purchase of 10 million voluntary carbon units (“VCU’s”) .
The gross sales value for this VCUPA is expected to be in excess of US$ 45 million.
The VCUPA, when completed, will give Carbon Planet commission revenue in excess of US $2.25 million. In addition there will be other receipts for service fees and the reimbursement of advances made against the project delivering the VCU’s.
Carbon Planet understands that this VCUPA is the largest to date in the world for this type of rain forest conservation credit.
The contract also provides a channel to sell additional carbon credits as they are registered.
The carbon credits will be registered under the internationally accepted Voluntary Carbon Standard (VCS). This standard requires compliance with a stringent certification process involving independent verification of the Project Design Document (PDD) by approved VCS experts and dual independent validation of the project methodology by other, VCS approved experts.
Delivery will occur when the VCU’s are certified and registered on an Exchange. Carbon
Planet expects this to occur prior to February 28th 2010.
Carbon Planet is currently in negotiations for further VCUPAs with different counterparties from the USA and Europe.
On 14th October 2009 m2m announced the signing of an agreement to purchase the carbon trading business of Carbon Planet. Subject to shareholders’ approval, m2m will consolidate its existing shares 20 to 1 resulting in approx 75 million shares on issue and issue 50 million shares to complete this purchase.
Up to a further 100 million performance shares will be issued to Carbon Planet on the carbon trading business progressively reporting annualized EBITs of $12 million, $18 million and $30 million. These EBIT targets have to be met by no later than 30th June 2012.
The carbon credit market is a rapidly growing area with independent research indicating that the voluntary market for Verified Emission Reduction (VER’s) units has doubled over the past two years – 2007 US$335 million and 2008 US$705 million. With the USA now stating that they will participate in the “Carbon Market” (Waxman-Markey Bill) the market size is expected to increase significantly.
The size of the overall carbon credit trading market (which includes both voluntary and compliance credits i.e. those mandated by country specific legislation such as the proposed ETS in Australia) was US$116 billion in 2008 and is expected to be US$2-3 trillion by the year 2020.
About m2m Corporation Limited
m2m Corporation Limited (ASX: MCL) (“m2m” or “the Company”) is an ASX-listed technology investment company. The Company has active investments in Telecommunications and Broadband Telephony, Software Development and Digital Video.
A significant investment is “Bluefish” which is the professional’s choice, market leader in the development and supply of high definition and standard definition video cards to film and broadcasting specialists worldwide. Its cutting edge products are highly regarded in the industry and are used by major film studios and broadcasters like Sony PCL and Channel 7.
For more information, please visit: www.m2mcorp.com.au; www.Sipme.com.vn and www.Bluefish444.com
About Carbon Planet Limited
A global carbon management company, Carbon Planet brings together scientific expertise, industry experience and business insights to deliver an integrated suite of carbon management services including:
• Carbon Commerce: scientific analysis and consultancy to facilitate the creation of carbon credits from valid projects, aiding business to maximise commercial opportunities
• ‘My Carbon Planet’: inspiration, education and facilitation of carbon management for individuals
• Technology: provision of methodologies and processes to deliver greenhouse gas emissions assessment, energy reduction and carbon management services.
For more information, please visit: www.carbonplanet.com
Carbon Planet executes a new partnership agreement to develop CDM and REDD projects in Malaysia Carbon Planet has engaged in partnership with Green Science Sdn Bhd, a subsidiary of Corro Shields Malaysia, to develop CDM and REDD projects in Malaysia.
Four principals of Green Science flew to Adelaide from Kuala Lumpur recently to execute the agreement in Carbon Planet’s Head Office.
Carbon Planet will assist Green Science to develop their capacity to identify, secure and develop CDM & REDD projects over the next 8-12 months. Through the partnership, Carbon Planet will also commercialise the carbon products created.
The partnership represents an important opportunity to preserve Malaysia’s tropical rainforests and bring Malaysia in to the carbon economy.
Source: www.carbonplanet.com

New Distance Record for Electric Car
An electric car that can plug into an ordinary household power outlet has smashed the world distance record for travelling on battery power alone, while the organiser of Australia’s first Electric Vehicle Conference (11 November, Brisbane) wants to alert the nation to the status of the industry in the world today and what vehicles are or will soon be on the market.
Barry Park in The Age (29 October 2009):
AN ELECTRIC car that can plug into an ordinary household power outlet has smashed the world distance record for travelling on battery power alone.
The $160,000 Tesla Roadster, the only one of its kind in Australia and owned by Adelaide-based internet tycoon Simon Hackett, drove 501 kilometres from Alice Springs in the Northern Territory to Marla in South Australia solely on battery power on Tuesday, smashing the previous world record of 388 kilometres.
The US-built car is competing in the Global Green Challenge, a 3000-kilometre run from Darwin to Adelaide that ends on Saturday.
Mr Hackett’s zero-emission record comes with a slight sting in the tail. The car travelled at 55 km/h and was followed by a diesel generator mounted on the back of a truck that can give the Tesla’s batteries a rapid three-hour recharge when needed.
Mr Hackett said he entered the Tesla in the challenge to prove that one day electric vehicles – with the benefit of roadside recharging stations – could drive large distances though Australia.
This year’s event, the 10th time the Global Green Challenge has been run, was won by a Japanese-engineered solar car entry which crossed the finish line late yesterday.
Source: www.theage.com.au
National Electric Vehicle Conference, Brisbane 11 November 2009:

Philippe Reboul, the organiser of the event and a management consultant with a lot of knowledge about energy and cars, wants to alert the nation to the status of the Electric Vehicle (EV) industry today and what vehicles are/will soon be on the market.

The first morning session will look at the EV industry, technology and manufacturers who are gearing up to market their EV’s and review current EV development worldwide, allowing the audience to assess performance and understand both cost and technology challenges.
Late morning will be time for Fleet Owners and Infrastructure manager to have their say. As more and more cities are gaining experience with EV, moving to a large fleet of EV may be challenging. The need for infrastructure investment and incentives is already evident.
After lunch the session will look at the importance of Network, Utilities and Policies. Even with sufficient charging points or battery swap stations, a key factor remains the capacity of the electricity network to deliver the required power at a given time with the costly risk of additional overloading at peak demand time.
ABC Carbon is pleased to be associated with the organisers and Ken Hickson will give an overview of where many countries in the world are at with developing policies that will facilitate the introduction of electric vehicles.
Agenda for the Electric Vehicle conference:
8:30 am Registration and Coffee
9:00 am Welcome and overview of the day
9:05 am Opening Address (TBC)
9:20 am The EV industry: Setting the scene
Dr Andrew Simpson, Research Fellow, Curtin University, Sustainable Policy
Institute
9:50 am Renault’s electric vehicles
Rudi Koenig, CEO Renault Australia
10:20 am Mitsubishi i-MiEV: technical highlights
Ashley Sanders, Manager, Certification and Regulation Compliance Dept,
Product Engineering Division, Mitsubishi Motors Australia Ltd
10:50 am Coffee Break
11:10 am Blade’s Electron EV and wireless charging
Ross Blade, Director, Blade Electric Vehicle Pty Ltd
11:40 am “An EV in the Darwin to Adelaide race”
Michael Gutteridge, Director, Deep Green Research
12:10 am Tindo, the solar electric bus
Jack Mazek, Senior Sustainability Officer, Adelaide City Council
12:40 pm Planning for electric vehicle in Australia
Dr Peter Pudney, Senior Research Fellow, University of South Australia
13:10 pm Lunch Break
13:55 pm Introduction for the afternoon session
14:00 pm Charge Point Australia: Fueling the electric transportation industry
Luke Grana, CEO, ChargePoint Australia
14:30 pm EV’s: Network boon or bane?
Glenn Walden, General Manager, Ergon Energy
15:00 pm Component technology and interaction with the grid
Dr David Finn, Managing Director, Tritium
15:30 pm Coffee Break
15:50 pm (Title TBC)
Conal Horgan, Research Consultant, University of Technology Sydney,
Institute for Sustainable Futures
16:20 pm EV policies around the world
Ken Hickson, the ABC of Carbon
16:40 pm Panel discussion on Policies
17:00 pm Nope Electric’s raffle to win a Nope Fold II electric bicycle valued at $1850 !
17:10 pm Closing address
17:15 pm End
EV Conference 2009 – 11 Nov 2009 Novotel Brisbane
This program is subject to change, please check www.evconference.com.au