Eco homes to give dirty industries a free ride

Sydney Morning Herald 

Monday 26/1/2009 Page:6

A QUlRK in the Federal Government's proposed carbon-trading scheme means household efforts to cut carbon footprints could simply translate into more money in the pockets of heavy polluters, many economists and environment groups believe. If people use less coal-fired electricity at home, power companies will need to buy fewer carbon permits when the scheme starts in 2010.

This will reduce the permit price, allowing other polluters to buy more permits to cover their own emissions. One in 10 Australian households pays extra on the electricity bill to support green power, and tens of thousands have installed solar panels. But there is a growing realisation that voluntary efforts to reduce greenhouse gases may not have the intended effect. Paying $4000, after rebates, for a rooftop solar panel would reduce Australia's total carbon dioxide emissions, but it would mean a householder voluntarily bearing costs that industry would otherwise be forced to pay.

The director of the Total Environment Centre, Jeff Angel, said: "Unless the government guarantees that voluntary reductions are additional to Australia's compliance targets, well-meaning consumers will merely be enabling dirty industries to pollute more for free." If household energy reductions were not treated separately from industry emissions, people would no longer have a way to participate in adaption to climate change, he said. "While reducing individual emissions buys a clean conscience ... understandably most people wouldn't bother."

Voluntary carbon reductions could go a long way towards meeting the Government's greenhouse target of a 5% cut by 2020, said Chris Dunstan, a senior research consultant at the University of Technology's Institute for Sustainable Futures. "Given we've got the 5% target, it's entirely possible that voluntary action by households and businesses both through buying green power and through energy efficiency could easily provide another 5% cut."

The latest figures, for last year, showed 194,464 homes and 12,623 businesses across NSW had signed up for higher electricity bills in return for reducing their carbon output via wind or solar energy, a jump of nearly 50% on the previous year. The solution would be to allow people to retire a carbon permit when they had abated a tonne of greenhouse gas at home, Mr Dunstan said. "It's relatively straightforward, and I'd be surprised if the Government didn't do that."

The emissions trading scheme has yet to be finalised -legislation will be put forward this year - but plans contained in the government's white paper suggest the loophole remains open. A spokeswoman for the Climate Change Minister, Penny Wong, said that winding back the number of permits, so Australia could meet its carbon reduction targets, would allow for voluntary household reductions.

"The Government will be delivering energy efficiency measures for households prior to the commencement of the scheme in 2010," the spokeswoman said. "Everyone will be doing their bit under the carbon pollution reduction scheme; noone gets a free ride. Households will benefit directly from reducing their own carbon pollution through reduced energy bills." The number of the permits in the system under the carbon pollution reduction scheme would reduce over time, she said. Wolfgang SpraIz had a solar panel system put on the roof of his Undercliffe home last year.

"I personally want to make a contribution because I believe we should be making a much smaller footprint on the Earth, but I'm not sure if the broader community would feel that way if any emissions reduction they make isn't accounted for. "I think the burden should be shared more equally between industry and individual households."