Asia-Pacific Businesses Call for Carbon Pricing
Date: 06-Sep-07
Country: AUSTRALIA
Author: Fayen Wong
The Pacific Rim business heads, gathered in Sydney for the
Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit, said
governments should also provide more incentives for companies
in invest in costly research and development of new
technologies to help them reduce their carbon footprint.
"At the moment, you can pollute for nothing ... so we are
asking leaders to put in place a market structure which will
put a price on pollution and motivate companies to change their
behaviour," Mark Johnson, head of the APEC Business Advisory
Council, told a news conference.
Industry is responsible for around a quarter of all
man-made greenhouse gas emissions and is under pressure to add
to the fight against climate change.
Acknowledging that it was difficult to find common ground
on the thorny issue given the various levels of development
within APEC economies, Johnson said it would be up to
individual countries to adopt their own systems.
Johnson, who is also the chairman of Australia's largest
energy retailer AGL Energy Ltd said the group had not
recommended a price for carbon emissions as there is yet a
framework in place within APEC economies.
"It is urgent to get the framework in place. Probably,
partly because most of us believe we have reached the tipping
point in science and global warming is actually happening," he
said.
Carbon trading first kicked off in Europe in 2005. Under
the current EU Carbon scheme, big emitters such as power plants
were given quotas on the amount of carbon dioxide they could
emit, and a trading platform was also introduced to allow
companies to buy or sell carbon credits.
Climate change is a major focus at the APEC meeting, with
activist group World Wildlife Fund calling on APEC countries,
which account for about 60 percent of the world's economy, to
set binding targets on emission reductions in a post-2012
climate treaty.
Separately, Johnson said business heads were also
disappointed that APEC leaders had failed to deliver an outcome
on Doha talks and would pursue a free-trade zone within APEC
should Doha fails.