The electronics sector has lost faith that environment ministers are seriously supportive of industry efforts to fund and establish a television take-back and recycling scheme, John Gertsakis of Product Stewardship Australia told a waste seminar in Melbourne this morning.
Meanwhile, Coca Cola Amatil has called for more fines for litterers as part of efforts to fight the litter problem.
And NSW president of the Waste Management Association Mike Ritchie warned that getting paper, cardboard and timber out of landfills is where the big wins lie in terms of reducing the volume of waste going to landfill and reducing greenhouse gas emissions.
An alliance of industry, union and environment organisations launched this morning has urged the Rudd government to set a goal of having the equivalent of three 500MW power stations fitted with CCS by 2020.
As a first step, Australia needs to finalise by this September nationally-consistent legislation and a policy framework to overcome first-mover barriers, the alliance says.
In the lead-up to this week's critical ministerial meeting set to discuss container deposit legislation, a consultation report on Queensland's proposed revamp of waste legislation and policy indicates local government authorities in the state are mostly opposed to South Australian-style CDL, although state government departments support it.
The consultation summary says forums with government, industry and environment groups and submissions to government found strong support for stand-alone waste legislation and fairly widespread support for mandatory business waste management plans.
But stakeholders were strongly of the view that introducing a waste levy and then raking most of the money into consolidated revenue – as NSW is doing – would be a 'deal breaker'.
The Rudd government should remove tax breaks for personal use of company cars and abolish the Fuel Tax Credits scheme that gives tax breaks worth more than a billion dollars a year to the mining industry, Australian Conservation Foundation chief Don Henry told the National Press Club today. (plus audio)
Henry also urged the government to remove tax concessions for aviation fuel and push for resource companies to boost their 'miserable' levels of spending on R&D into technologies such as carbon capture and storage.
Companies looking to buy credits to reduce or neutralise their carbon footprint need to be clear about the product and rights they are buying, Blake Dawson senior associate Lisa Moore has told a national conference of environmental lawyers.
Meanwhile, Blake Dawson's Meredith Gibbs says a legal concept of causation could be the best way to determine whether greenhouse gas emissions from a project might have an impact on matters of national environmental significance that would trigger EPBC Act assessment.
The Rudd government should review income tax law, international tax rules and the GST to ensure Australia's emissions trading scheme doesn't create tax traps, according to Ernst & Young and the Institute of Chartered Accountants Australia.
The accountants, in a joint report, urge the government to offer an emissions investment allowance as an additional tool to encourage business action on climate change during the first five years of the life of the nation's emissions trading scheme.
Reserve Bank governor Glenn Stevens today gave strong backing to using market-based mechanisms to address climate change, saying a price signal would play a critical role in solving the problem.
Stevens also flagged that the bank would wait to see what 'second round' impacts emerge from pricing carbon before deciding whether to intervene. And he said the community would have to accept a carbon price would mean reduced purchasing power for some goods and services.
