Herald Sun
Thursday 17/9/2009 Page: 63
GET on your bike once and for all Brendan and, while you're at it, prescribe yourself a dose of reality. The former Opposition Leader's parting shots about environmental policy as he exited Parliament yesterday hinged on such misinformation about the economic effects of a carbon price it was embarrassing. In his valedictory speech Dr Nelson said: "The interests of everyday Australians who want action on climate change, but are ignorant of the costs to be imposed on them by we who do must be placed ahead of political advantage by both sides of politics."
How utterly patronising. How utterly ignorant. Dr Nelson's perpetuation of the myth that a price on carbon is going to hurt business is unbelievable. He clearly has been very selective in his choice of sources, as have so many of the climate sceptics who rely on assumptions to model scenarios that provide hypothetical conclusions which may or may not be valid. Who knows?
Fortunately, there are analyses of how carbon prices affect business which are based on empirical evidence rather than guesswork. That's right, findings which depend on experience or observation alone, without using scientific method or theory, as the dictionary definition goes. As a doctor of medicine, Dr Nelson should know the value of empirical studies better than most.
Today, such a study is being released by The Climate Group. The group was commissioned by the respected German Marshall Fund of the US to do a survey of key businesses that have operated within the European Union Emissions Trading System since 2005. The objective of the study was to "inform the US congressional debate around the effects of a cap-and-trade system on business competitiveness".
In a nutshell, the conclusion is that European climate legislation has had a barely perceptible impact on balance sheets. Lobbyists for climate sceptic businesses, the Lavoisier Group, the Australian Industry Greenhouse Network and all others aligned with the greenhouse mafia who argue that our economy cannot afford a carbon price because it would destroy our competitiveness, have been made to look quite ridiculous following The Climate Group's analysis.
Included in the nine companies surveyed for the study that were happy to be named were Centrica, a major British-based utility, US healthcare conglomerate Johnson & Johnson, British retailer Tesco and French cement producer Lafarge. Those who chose anonymity were a British glass manufacturer, a German engineering firm, a global steelmaker, a global aluminium company and a global financial services firm. With the exception of the glass maker, all are part of Fortune's Global 500 ranking of the world's biggest companies for 2009.
Representative of their respective sectors, they were selected on the basis that they were the biggest emitters whose products and services faced potential competition between $15 and $40. The selected companies have not had to pay for every tonne they have emitted, having gained free permits to cover some of their emissions, just like Australian industries are being offered.
They were asked by The Climate Group if the ETS had resulted in significant costs to business to date, especially when compared with the impact of other factors such as energy price fluctuations and the economic downturn. Analysis of the responses showed none of the companies were able to quantify any negative impact on their bottom lines. They have not relocated their operations, reduced their workforce or lost market share as a result of carbon pricing. They admitted that their concerns about loss of competitiveness have to date been unfulfilled.
Our economy can consider itself lucky that Dr Nelson's political aspirations have also remained unfulfilled.
The full report is available at http://www.theclimategroup.org
ogalacho@heraldsun.com.au
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