the australian: no kyoto it's useless. that's that
Kyoto's just hot air for our corporates Alan Trounson, Florence Chong February 17, 2005 THE implementation of the Kyoto Protocol yesterday was a non-event for corporate Australia.
"It is a flawed treaty. It is symbolism and not substance. It is about targets and not solutions," said Mitchell Hooke, chief executive of the Minerals Council of Australia.
Mr Hooke said the treaty removed the imperative to work towards a global solution to deal with climate change.
The reality was that the world would continue to rely on fossil fuels for 80-90 per cent of its energy needs, as alternative forms of energy would have other ecological costs, he said.
The Business Council of Australia debated the issue in 2002 and has since adopted a neutral position following feedbacks from its members.
The Australian Chamber of Commerce and Industry also said the Kyoto Protocol was a flawed mechanism and the current structure would create trade and investment distortions in Australia.
It claimed that it would impair economic growth, infrastructure and technological development, damaging Australia's international competitiveness.
But Chris Schultz, a senior partner with law firm Arthur Allens Robinson, said most companies in Australia were global players and would need to look at how they carried out activities and trade in other countries.
A total of 141 countries have signed the Kyoto Protocol, which aims to get the industrial world to cut its greenhouse gas emissions by 5.2 per cent by 2012, with targets set according to each country's pollution level.
Australia and the US are the only developed nations that have not signed.
Mr Schultz said major greenhouse-gas-emitting sectors - coal, aluminum, power generation and oil - had policies to deal with the problem.
"My view is that there isn't a negative impact from not signing the Kyoto protocol at this time," BHP Billiton chief executive Chip Goodyear said.
"I don't see a significant impact on our business, other than continuing to find ways to work with our customers," Mr Goodyear said.
As an example, BHP Billiton has started buying emissions credits and then "stapling" them to its sales of thermal coal.
Aluminium smelting company Alcoa's general manager corporate affairs Meg McDonald said the company worked with governments in all the countries where it had operations. "We are an early global leadership in adopting policy to monitor and reduce or greenhouse emission," she said.
Alcoa has set itself a target to reduce greenhouse emission by 25 per cent by 2010 and it has already achieved its targets in 2003.
A spokeswoman for Caltex said that the oil company was undertaking a $295 million Clean Fuels Project in order to produce petrol to meet the new standards. She said petroleum refining is an energy-intensive and trade-exposed sector of the economy. "If Australia ratified the Kyoto Protocol, this could provide other non-participating countries with an unfair competitive advantage," she said.
A Shell spokeswoman said the group was globally managing its greenhouse emission levels and it would take into consideration future greenhouse emission costs in all its major investments.
A spokesman for Rio Tinto said: "As far as climate change is concerned, Rio Tinto had adopted new technologies to help in the abatement of green house gas emission."
Yesterday, Prime Minister John Howard said it was not in Australia's interest to sign the Kyoto Protocol because major polluters, including China, India and Indonesia, would not be subject to the same penalties and restrictions Australia would face.
That would jeopardise Australian jobs and industry, he said.
"Until such time as the major polluters of the world, including the US and China, are made part of the Kyoto regime it is next to useless and, indeed, harmful, for a country such as Australia to sign up to the Kyoto Protocol," Mr Howard told parliament.
