Environmental

Australia enters the era of carbon as a commodity

RACHEL ALEMBAKIS  |  FRIDAY, 11 NOV 2011  |  NEWS
The Clean Energy Future legislation has passed into law, and now that the infrastructure and timeline to creating a market-based mechanism for pricing carbon emissions is reality, so begins the era of carbon as a commodity. Liable companies will need ...

LGS uses trigeneration technology for property retrofit

RACHEL ALEMBAKIS  |  FRIDAY, 11 NOV 2011  |  NEWS
The New South Wales based Local Government Super (LGS) has completed a retrofit of a Sydney commercial property that will reduce the building's emissions reduced by approximately 85% and allow the building to operate independently of the electricity ...

Global Reporting Initiative launches sustainability database

RACHEL ALEMBAKIS  |  FRIDAY, 11 NOV 2011  |  NEWS
The Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) has launched a new database containing information on sustainability and environmental, social and governance of more than three thousand companies worldwide.

Only 4% of CDP respondents see high risks with carbon pricing

RACHEL ALEMBAKIS  |  WEDNESDAY, 9 NOV 2011  |  NEWS
A majority of ASX200 and NZ50 companies reported to this year's Carbon Disclosure Project (CDP) that they saw risks associated with carbon pricing, but many also saw opportunities and only 4% of respondents said the risks were rated as high.

Carbon tax passes Senate, pricing concerns remain

RACHEL ALEMBAKIS  |  WEDNESDAY, 9 NOV 2011  |  NEWS
The Australian Senate has passed the Clean Energy Future legislative package, starting the countdown to the 1 July 2012 launch of a carbon pricing regime. But while businesses have short term certainty with the package's passage, they will still have ...

Investors weigh environmental, social risks of coal seam gas

RACHEL ALEMBAKIS  |  FRIDAY, 4 NOV 2011  |  NEWS
The mining of coal seam gas has never been more prominent in Australia, and institutional investors are weighing the environmental, social and political risks of being invested in companies with exposures to coal seam gas operations. While there are ...

Variability in level of ASX100 supply chain disclosures

RACHEL ALEMBAKIS  |  FRIDAY, 4 NOV 2011  |  NEWS
ASX100 companies are disclosing their environmental and social impacts on upstream and downstream supply chains, but there is significant variability in disclosures within and between industry sectors and room for improvement, according to a joint report ...

Australia to pilot Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative

RACHEL ALEMBAKIS  |  FRIDAY, 4 NOV 2011  |  NEWS
The Australian government has agreed to undertake a pilot of the Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (EITI), with Foreign Minister Kevin Rudd and Resources Minister Martin Ferguson announcing that the government will provide AU$12.7m to support ...

Low Carbon Australia relaunches Carbon Offset Guide

RACHEL ALEMBAKIS  |  FRIDAY, 4 NOV 2011  |  NEWS
Low Carbon Australia has relaunched the Carbon Offset Guide website, which provides information on carbon offset providers in Australia.

Commonwealth Bank reports lower customer satisfaction

RACHEL ALEMBAKIS  |  WEDNESDAY, 2 NOV 2011  |  NEWS
The Commonwealth Bank of Australia (CBA) reported a customer satisfaction rating of 75.2%, slightly lower than last year and putting the bank in 4th place against the other three main Australia banks, against a backdrop of full year net profits of AU$6.39bn.