Don't overestimate the effort required to be officially certified as carbon neutral, but the rewards make it worthwhile, says the City of Sydney's sustainability manager Chris Derksema.
The introduction of a carbon price means many councils will for the first time have to report under NGERS, the climate department has already boosted NGERS compliance efforts and there are ways companies can extract maximum value from their emissions and energy data, says NDEVR's Matt Drum.
Federal changes mean companies will find it easier to buy and use Australian carbon credits, a NSW review is likely to result in tougher environmental incident notification rules and a Western Australian appeal decision confirms that backers of major projects will face carbon offset obligations.
Most companies are closely watching the Federal carbon price push – and the likely outlines of a deal are starting to emerge – but state, territory and local governments are also taking action that has major implications for business.
