Wednesday 25 March 2009

Carbon trading test drive

Adelaide Advertiser
Tuesday 24/3/2009 Page: 38

AUSTRALIAN businesses will get a chance to test drive the Federal Government's carbon pollution reduction scheme in May, through KPMG's new auction simulation program. A national pool of up to 100 participants will buy and sell "dummy" permits based on their actual emissions under the Carbon Permit Auction Simulation program, to test their readiness ahead of the proposed rollout of the scheme next year.

KPMG, which has held such programs in the UK, will hold three half-day auctions over the program's six months and offer participants anonymity. There will be a cap on the number of permits auctioned off and the price of the permits will be demand driven. For the Australian market, the simulation includes trading forestry/carbon offsets.

KPMG claims the program is the first of its kind in Australia and expects strong participation from companies already monitoring their emissions. The main driver was to get companies to understand the "complicated" "learn-by-doing" fashion, KPMG director Nick Wood said.

"Emissions trading is not about the auction alone; it's a long-term emissions strategy," Mr Wood said. "The internal structure of organisations will determine carbon action." The simulation will help businesses consolidate and field-test emissions data collection systems and procedures, bring in a disciplined approach to managing greenhouse gas emissions and price-test carbon reduction strategies.

Each participant will receive a report and performance feedback at the end of the exercise. Mr Wood, who is managing his fourth emission scheme, said the challenge for companies would be enormous. They would need to integrate the functions of finance, production/engineering, environment management and trading into one operational unit with its own management structure. So far, KPMG has received good cross-sector representation, including from the power industry and states.

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