Carbon Trust Plan for Carbon Neutral & Energy Efficiency

Federal government has approved a new ”carbon neutral” logo designed to help people distinguish companies which have actually offset their greenhouse gas emissions and Australia’s Carbon Trust has issued a call for Expressions of Interest from companies and organisations wishing to co-invest and work on strategic relationships in developing energy efficiency projects.

Sydney Morning Herald (8 July 2010):

THE federal government has approved a new ”carbon neutral” logo designed to help people distinguish between companies who have actually offset their greenhouse gas emissions and those touting bogus claims.

The new labels are expected to help cut through the mass of competing claims about ”carbon neutral” products, a few of which have been exposed as exercises in greenwashing.

Companies will be able to apply to the Australian Carbon Trust, a government-funded public company headed by the former Howard government environment minister, Robert Hill, to have their products and services accredited under the new scheme, which replaces the government’s ”greenhouse friendly” program.

“This program will benefit consumers by giving them greater certainty about whether a product is truly carbon neutral,” said the Minister for Climate Change, Penny Wong.

Products carrying the logo will have met national guidelines for carbon offsets, meaning that the greenhouse gas released into the atmosphere by an activity is cancelled out by an equal amount of gas absorbed.

Source: www.smh.com.au

Information on Australian Carbon Trust

The Australian Government is providing over $100 million to establish the Australian Carbon Trust to further support energy efficiency action by businesses. The Australian Carbon Trust is a Commonwealth company limited by guarantee, with an independent Board of Directors. Its Chairman is the Honourable Robert Hill and Ms Meg McDonald is Chief Executive Officer.

The Australian Carbon Trust will manage the Energy Efficiency Trust which will provide information and tools for businesses to effectively participate in Australia’s climate change response.

The Australian Carbon Trust will manage two initiatives:

• the Energy Efficiency Trust which will provide information and tools for businesses to effectively participate in Australia’s climate change response; and
• the National Carbon Offset Standard Carbon Neutral Program 

Energy Efficiency Trust

The Government is providing over seed funding for an Energy Efficiency Trust to promote energy efficiency in the business sector.

The Energy Efficiency Trust will demonstrate innovative approaches to energy efficiency investment by business with the aim of showcasing and mainstreaming these approaches across the private sector. To do this, the Trust will bring together public and private seed funding, business skills and culture and technical knowledge to leverage investment in energy efficiency activities in commercial buildings and other business operations. By showcasing commercially viable energy efficiency opportunities, the Energy Efficiency Trust will increase awareness amongst businesses of the benefits of energy efficiency and facilitate the growth of private sector capacity.

The Australian Carbon Trust is seeking Expressions of Interest from businesses and other organisations to enter into Strategic Relationships and co-invest to deliver energy efficiency improvements in existing non-residential buildings across Australia.

To request information on the Expression of Interest process, please email eoi@carbontrustaustralia.com.au. The deadline for submitting Expressions of Interest is 5pm on 6 August 2010.

National Carbon Offset Standard Carbon Neutral Program

Australian Carbon Trust Ltd is the Program Administrator for the Carbon Neutral Program under the National Carbon Offset Standard.

The Carbon Neutral Program utilising the National Carbon Offset Standard officially commences on 1 July 2010. This Program is the successor to the Australian Government’s Greenhouse Friendly™ initiative (2001 – 2010).

The Carbon Neutral Program is a voluntary scheme which certifies products or business operations as carbon neutral.  The National Carbon Offset Standard, developed by the Australian government, underpins the integrity of the Program.

Invitation from Meg McDonald, CEO of the Australian Carbon Trust:

I am writing to introduce Australian Carbon Trust and to brief you on our programs and plans which we hope will be of interest to your organisation.  Australian Carbon Trust today announced the commencement of two of its national programs, including launching a call for Expressions of Interest in co-investing with us in energy efficiency projects.  We’d be very interested in hearing from you about ways we might collaborate.

Australian Carbon Trust has been established by the Australian Government as an independent company with over $75m initial funding to provide finance and advice to business and the wider community under innovative programs to catalyse investment in, take-up and use of energy-efficient technologies. The initial focus of our activities will be on achieving energy efficiency improvements in the buildings sector through retrofits in existing non-residential buildings across  Australia – including offices, food and non-food retail, education, community, health, hotels, etc – using commercially available technology.  We are now issuing a call for Expressions of Interest from companies and organisations wishing to co-invest and work with us in strategic relationships in developing such projects.

Criteria for eligibility include projects which feature:

•           a high demonstration value

•           scalability; are replicable and adaptable

•           knowledge uplift and capacity in the market

•           deliver cost effective energy savings

•           provide significant additional private sector finance

•           be genuinely additional to business-as-usual activity

Australian Carbon Trust will provide financial support to energy efficiency projects by a variety of means including low-interest rate loans, revolving loan arrangements and alterative structures. We envisage working with

•           financial institutions and property trusts to develop innovative funding models to finance energy efficiency projects in commercial retrofits

•           individual businesses and other organisations to identify and develop flagship energy efficiency projects

•           technical advice and service companies to deliver energy efficiency advice and finance to the business customer base

•           State and Local Government to leverage their existing capabilities and scale up existing programs

Support could be sought for co-investment in ‘flagship’ retrofit projects and projects which scale up existing Government initiatives.  Accompanying such finance, we will provide a range of services and advice to businesses and the wider community to further stimulate energy efficiency improvements. Any project which involves direct action in this sector, or the development of models for the delivery of finance, direct advice and related activities to stimulate such investment and action, will be eligible for consideration.

For more information on Expressions of Interest, please email eoi@carbontrustaustralia.com.au

Source: www.climatechange.gov.au