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7 June 2010

The Sunday Age jumps into the regulatory void

Ruth Williams from The Sunday Age reported yesterday on the new national carbon offset standard, which comes into force on July 1, when Greenhouse Friendly is wound up.

Although some offsets produced in Australia will be covered by the new standard, offsets recognised by the Kyoto Protocol, including those produced by forestry and energy-efficiency programs, are not because they were supposed to be dealt with by the delayed carbon pollution reduction scheme.

And there is confusion around the standard, because it contains repeated references to the shelved scheme.

Ruth speaks to Greenfleet CEO, Sara Gipton, along with others from BP, Qantas, Baker & McKenzie, CO2 Australia and the Voluntary Carbon Markets Association.

Everyone interviewed told the same story...

  • Greenhouse Friendly was credible and robust
  • The new standard is dysfunctional, particularly without the Carbon Pollution Reduction Scheme
  • The government needs to find a way to empower Australians to take real action on climate change
  • The government needs to fix the administrative issues that mean Australians will be forced to purchase offsets from overseas

Read Ruth's entire story in The Age online.