Make Voluntary Emission Cuts Count

Consumer group Choice is among a number of high-powered organisations urging the Government to change the proposed CPRS to ensure voluntary action to cut emissions – like buying Green Power –  whether by state or local governments, businesses or households, is fully counted and has an impact on Australia’s overall emissions figures.

Statement on 7 October 2009:

Ensuring voluntary actions to tackle climate change really count

A joint statement by the Total Environment Centre, CHOICE, WWF Australia, the Australian Conservation Foundation, the Alternative Technology Association, the Moreland Energy Foundation and Environment Victoria.

Australians want to lower their greenhouse gas emissions, but their voluntary efforts – like putting solar panels on their roofs, installing insulation and buying GreenPower – are being undermined by the design of the Federal Government’s proposed emissions trading scheme.

Under the proposed Carbon Pollution Reduction Scheme (CPRS) voluntary actions are credited to the mandatory national targets required of Australia’s largest polluters.

This means the more voluntary action reduces Australia’s total emissions, the less the big polluters’ will have to cut their emissions – in effect limiting our national climate change efforts.

Politicians in Canberra must ensure voluntary actions to reduce carbon emissions by individuals, organisations and state and local governments are counted as additional to the government-mandated cap.

An emissions trading scheme can be an important part of Australia’s response to climate change, but it cannot be the only response and it must not undermine other action. We all have the right – indeed, we should be encouraged – to act independently to go beyond Australia’s mandated caps and play a part in tackling climate change.

Voluntary action has considerable potential to create jobs and ensure Australia remains competitive in the emerging low-carbon global economy. Voluntary action encourages business innovation and new business models that achieve emissions reductions. There is also a risk that without voluntary action being additional investment in carbon offset schemes will increasingly move offshore: consumers want to invest in activities that deliver measureable carbon reductions over and above mandated emissions caps.

We urge the Government to change the proposed CPRS to ensure voluntary action, whether by state or local governments, businesses or households, is fully counted and has an impact on Australia’s overall emissions figures. This can be achieved by establishing a mechanism to measure how much greenhouse pollution is avoided through voluntary action, then strengthening national targets by this amount and reducing the number of permits available to industry. This way voluntary climate action will result in real emission reductions.

We believe this is necessary to ensure that all Australians play a part in reducing emissions globally. Making this change will create clean energy jobs, enable innovation towards a low carbon economy and empower Australians to take ambitious climate action.

We propose that the federal government amends the Carbon Pollution Reduction Scheme to: