Climate change and the carbon price: risks and opportunities
Climate change and its regulation have the potential to impact many aspects of social and commercial activity.
Most immediately, the new carbon price will commence on 1 July 2012. It is the most significant Australian economic reform since the GST. Our time to prepare is rapidly running out.
The Opposition has pledged to repeal the carbon price if it wins government. Repeal is very unlikely before 1 July and will be very difficult even at a later date. So there is a clear need to prepare for the carbon price now.
The carbon price will be directly payable to government by ‘liable entities’, but the price will be ‘passed through’ the economy. These direct and indirect/passed through costs present risks. However, there are also opportunities to improve practices and achieve commercial advantage.
How Freehills can help you
The carbon price is complex. But we’ve taken the time to understand it, focusing on its commercial implications. You can rely on us to help you in your particular circumstances, to prepare especially for these key legal issues:
Contracts
Your contracts are fundamentally important. They determine how carbon costs are passed to you by your suppliers and how you pass them to your customers. You should carefully review your contracts, including:
- auditing existing contracts
- reviewing contract templates; and
- carefully negotiating new contracts and any changes to existing ones.
We can help you do this. We have extensive experience.
Compliance
The Carbon Price comes with several complex compliance obligations. We can you with these, including with:
Reporting, energy efficiency etc: We can help you understand and comply with these regimes, including the National Greenhouse and Energy Reporting System (NGERS) and Energy Efficiency Opportunities (EEO) program.
Disclosure and marketing: The regulators, including ASIC and the ACCC, will be very active in policing carbon price and environmental statements. You need to be careful. You need to consider your stakeholders (including shareholders and financiers) and ensure they are properly informed. We can help you to understand and comply with your obligations.
Offsets
Carbon offsets including the Carbon Farming Initiative (CFI) may be one key way to manage carbon costs. We can help you work with these programs.
Support Programs
The carbon price also comes with several support programs of various types and application (including compensation and renewable energy support). We can help you understand and take best advantage of these.
