BCA Strategic Framework for Emissions Reduction

Coverage of the release of the BCA Strategic Framework for Emissions Reduction as reported in various newspapers including The Australian, The Australian Financial Review, The Sydney Morning Herald, The Age, Herald Sun, The Advertiser and The West Australian.

Australia’s blue chip business sector has backed the development of a comprehensive global greenhouse gas emissions trading scheme, with long-term fixed targets the cornerstone of domestic policy response to the threat of climate change … The Business Council of Australia's formal endorsement of emission trading follows six months of negotiations among its membership, which includes BHP, Rio Tinto, Alcoa and Exxon Mobil Australia. BCA chairman Michael Chaney said a national emissions trading scheme would need to be integrated into international markets, while other strategies, including research and development of new energy technologies and energy efficiency, would also have a role to play. 

From ‘BCA Backs Emissions Trade Scheme’ by Matthew Warren, The Australian, 4 April 2007, p. 25.

Prudent risk management requires policy responses that will deliver immediate action. The BCA said a ‘cap-and-trade’ scheme should be the central part of any response to climate change, but trade-exposed industries must be fully protected until others in the region adopted emissions reduction programs.

From ‘Business Body Wants Emissions Scheme’ by Angus Grigg, The Australian Financial Review, 4 April 2007, p. 6.

After months of deliberation, the Business Council has backed a carbon emissions trading scheme with targets that will put a price on greenhouse gas pollution. As part of their submission to the Prime Minister's task group examining the issue, the council has called for the targets to be set for both the immediate and long term. 

‘It’s time to set targets on gases – business’ by Marian Wilkinson, The Sydney Morning Herald, 4 April 2007, p. 5.

The council yesterday released what it called a “strategic framework for emissions reduction” – a document setting its policy on climate change – which argues that Australia should implement a “cap and trade” emissions trading scheme. Council president Michael Chaney said the scheme needed to be long-term “to increase greenhouse gas emissions reduction and investor certainty”. The scheme would operate with both annual and long-term emissions reduction targets.

‘Business Counters PM to Back Emissions Targets’ by Katharine Murphy, The Age, 4 April 2007, p. 6.

BCA president Michael Chaney said the plan had been signed off at the council’s annual forum this week, and followed six months consultation with BCA members. “Now it is up to our political leaders and policy makers to use this consensus to deliver a framework for action, including realistic targets and transition arrangements to make sure the Australian economy is not adversely affected,” Mr Chaney said. 

From ‘Businesses Put Heat on Howard’ by Ben Packham, Herald Sun, 4 April 2007, p. 41.