EITE – Right direction, long way to go

A3P, the peak body for the plantation products and paper industry, has acknowledged the Australian Government’s foresight in addressing the key issue for a non-global emission trading scheme through its recognition of emissions-intensive, trade-exposed industries in the Carbon Pollution Reduction Scheme (CPRS) White Paper.
A3P is encouraged by the direction of the White Paper (released this week) which expands on the principles proposed in the Green Paper. The treatment of emission-intensive, trade-exposed industries will address some of the concerns over international competitiveness and maintain an incentive to reduce emissions. However, it is still going to impose a cost of tens of millions of dollars per year on Australia’s Pulp and Paper industry.
“The white paper is an indication that the Government has listened to the concerns we raised but the scheme is still going to come at a cost for our industry,” said Richard Stanton, CEO of A3P.
“The scheme will require a major investment from business to implement the new arrangements and we are pleased to see some certainty coming to the policy environment to enable that investment.
“The option of using value-add in the calculations of emissions intensity is an improvement for activities that occur late in a production process like paper-making,” said Stanton.
A3P was also pleased the Government provided greater certainty on the threshholds for permit allocation and the reduction in permit allocation over time.
“We acknowledge the changes to the scheme outlined in the White Paper and realise that there is still a lot of detail to work through and the scheme’s passage through Parliament is going to be critical to the ultimate impact on our industry,” Stanton said.