Origin creates new carbon trading scheme - Business - Business - theage.com.au

A carbon-neutral bank ? I thought they gave up carbon paper years ago ?!

Origin creates new carbon trading scheme


THE AFL plans to neutralise the 120,000 tonnes of greenhouse gases generated each year from lighting its night games, air travel and other football activities. The country's biggest bank, NAB, aims to offset all its annual carbon emissions in three years.
In fact, barely a day passes without a major company or group announcing its contribution to tackling the threat of global warming.
Until now, though, there's been no formal marketplace in Australia to match demand and supply for such offsets that reduce or avoid emissions.
That space is about to be filled with Origin Energy's planned launch tomorrow of its Carbon Reduction Scheme, which aims to provide businesses with a standard method of buying and selling verified carbon offsets.
Ian Wood, general manager for government and public affairs at Origin, said part of the impetus came from some of its 150,000-plus customers who had already switched to green power sourced from renewable energy.
"We had customers coming to us saying 'there's a wider range of things that we want to do, offsetting all of our activities'," Mr Wood said. "There's no government mechanism to do this."
Origin spent eight months developing computer systems to enable the trading. It also worked with the Australian Conservation Foundation and the St James Ethics Centre to ensure the carbon credits to be sold will be verifiable.
"People who are going to pay real money to have their emissions offset are going to want to know the system has integrity," Mr Wood said.
Matt Dever, a director at Emit, an environmental brokerage, said voluntary carbon offsets are now trading in Australia in the range of $8-9 per tonne of carbon dioxide equivalent, although the market remains informal. "It's very non-transparent so it's very illiquid," Mr Dever said. "It's very early days for the market."
One challenge is that values vary with the kind of offsets, such as generated by forest plantings, renewable energy and energy efficiency. More easily verifiable credits, such as for landfill gas capture, typically secure a higher price as an offset, while fire and other risks mean forestry attracts a lower value.
Emit, which is working on offset arrangements with companies including airlines and the motor industry, may participate in the Origin market. "It depends on the portfolio of offsets they can offer for sale," he said.
The scheme has already lined up participating businesses including NAB, Insurance Group Australia, Intrepid Travel, Transurban and STA Travel, with Origin planning to serve as a broker. The market, which will initially be restricted to Australia, might be worth millions of dollars, Origin's Mr Wood said.
"A bit like green power," he said. "When we started, we thought maybe 1 per cent of our customers would sign up for green power. It's now more than 12 per cent."