The Department of Sustainability, Environment, Water, Population and Communities would like to advise that the report; “Baseline analysis of mass balance rate of television and computer recycling in Australia” has been released onto the Department’s website. The report was prepared by Equilibrium.

The National Television and Computer Product Stewardship Scheme (the Scheme) was agreed to in November 2009 by all Australian governments through the Environment Protection and Heritage Council (EPHC). The Scheme aims to increase the collection, material recovery and recycling of end-of-life televisions, computers and computer peripherals to 80% by 2020-21. To achieve this, the Scheme will be underpinned by Regulations that will set enforceable collection-for-recycling targets.

Nick recently made a presentation around sustainability, regulation and the Clean Energy Future  plan at the September meeting of the Australian Institute of Packaging…Read more

Two interesting reports came across the desk this week regarding concerns about the carbon tax amongst SMEs and a decline in urgency about sustainability issues more generally. First up was the September 2011 Sensis Business Index – Small and Medium Enterprises, based on telephone interviews conducted with approximately 1,800 small and medium business proprietors. The sample size comprised approximately 1,400 small businesses and 400 medium businesses (the latter defined as businesses employing between 20 and 199 people), drawn from metropolitan and major non-metropolitan regions within Australia.

Support for the Federal Government fell again this quarter, with net support not seen at lower levels since the Keating Government. The carbon tax was the main reason given by SMEs for feeling that the Federal Government’s policies worked against small businesses by impacting consumer confidence and spending¹. During the last quarter 67% of SMEs reported that they disagreed with the Federal Government’s plans to introduce a carbon tax².

Organisations need to take a measured and systematic approach to the sustainability challenges and potential impacts of climate change. This involves the careful examination of issues and risks affecting the market and the development of appropriate short and long-term strategies. Many organisations lack the internal awareness, skills and tools to perform these critical steps, therefore seeking the expertise of a quality consulting firm – such as Equilibrium – will help clarify potential scenarios and assist with the development of suitable strategies.

As global population increases and as the incomes of those in developing countries rise alongside aspirations for the Western “way of life”, the pressure placed on the environment and the competition for natural resources will continue to heat up. Also heating up is the climate – the science is predicting more unsettled weather patterns with potentially profound impacts on the environment and society if left unchecked. Human behaviour and organisations need to adapt to accommodate these changing circumstances.

The Federal government is set to introduce its carbon price legislation into parliament next Tuesday (13^th Sept).  There are expected to be 13 separate bills in all, with the government’s intention to commence debate on the draft laws from Wednesday.

The threat of climate change to businesses and infrastructure is becoming a key driver behind investment decisions and strategic planning for the future. The effect of the increased severity, frequency and extremes due to human-induced warming may have potentially severe financial, reputational, safety and operational impacts.

Each year, there are climatic events that represent risks to people and organisations, which arise from the normal day-to-day, seasonal and year-to-year variability in climate as well as regional climate differences. However, when planning for, and managing, climate variability on operations in the future and making strategic choices, organisations cannot simply rely on the assumption that the prevailing climate will be more or less the same as it has been over the past fifty or one hundred years (the comment “a once in a hundred year event” seems to be being heard with much great frequency!). Escalating warming as a result of increasing concentrations of carbon emissions in the atmoshphere, if left unchecked, is likely to invalidate this assumption.