NT to put carbon price tag on land clearing applications
Renewable energy centre bill clears Senate
Queensland pulls plug on solar hot water rebate scheme
Cadbury, Xerox and GPT in the running for sustainability prize
NT to put carbon price tag on land clearing applications
The Northern Territory environment department will estimate the greenhouse gas emissions and an indicative "carbon cost" of each proposal to clear native vegetation, according to land clearing guidelines released yesterday by the Territory Government.
To help the department calculate the emissions and carbon cost, which it will provide for information purposes to the relevant consent authority, the guidelines require landholders to submit information on vegetation and soil type and measures to minimise greenhouse gas emissions with their application to clear land.
The consent authority would use the estimates of emissions and carbon cost to help inform their assessment of "the benefit or detriment of the development to the public interest", the guidelines say.
The guidelines note that clearing accounts for 7.1% of the Territory's total greenhouse gas emissions and that minimising land clearing "is a low-cost way to meet national emission targets".
"It is in the Northern Territory's interests to develop robust management systems for land clearing that support orderly development," they state.
"This would also demonstrate to the rest of Australia that the Northern Territory has made a real effort … to contribute to national targets in greenhouse gas mitigation and to reduce the cost of carbon management."
Renewable energy centre bill clears Senate
The Senate this morning passed legislation to establish the Australian Centre for Renewable Energy (ACRE), which will play a central role in delivering the Rudd Government's renewable energy programs and fostering investment in renewables (see related article).
ACRE will be headed by a Department of Resources, Energy and Tourism bureaucrat, with the Senate rejecting a Greens amendment that would have made the centre's CEO independent of the department.
Queensland pulls plug on solar hot water rebate scheme
In the wake of a major cut in the Federal solar hot water rebate and changes to the Renewable Energy Target (RET) scheme, the Queensland Government yesterday announced the closure of a State solar hot water rebate scheme that was underpinned by the Federal rebate and the RET.
"The Federal Government has drastically changed its solar hot water program, which has left us with no alternative but to close our scheme and consider new options, Energy Minister Stephen Robertson told Parliament yesterday.
"The decision by the Federal Government to reduce its solar hot-water rebate from $1,600 to $1,000 and further reduce the heat pump rebate from $1,000 to $600 means that the Queensland Government would have to find well over $100 million to bridge this gap if we were to meet our target of installing 200,000 solar hot-water systems during the term of this Government," he said.
The Government was investigating "alternative ways to support solar", he said.
Stephenson put the State scheme on hold for review last month (see related article).
Cadbury, Xerox and GPT in the running for sustainability prize
Measures by Cadbury's Ringwood factory, which have slashed site water use to 42% below 2006 levels and cut greenhouse gas emissions by 18.7%, have put the company in the running for the Victorian Premier's sustainability award in the large business category.
Other category finalists are property group GPT, which by 2008 had boosted recycling rates 40% above 2005 levels across its portfolio and cut energy use by 24%, and Fuji Xerox Australia.
Finalists in the built environment category are Mirvac, Phillip Johnson Sustainable Landscape Systems and the Melbourne Convention and Exhibition Centre.
Award winners will be announced on April 22. will be announced on April 22.
