On 15th August, the Australian Government passed the National Greenhouse and Energy Reporting Bill 2007...so what does this mean for business & their IT departments?
Important dates: effective from 1 July 2008
Affected: Companies with energy production and greenhouse gas emissions above a certain level i.e.
Year
Output 1
125 kt CO2-e gross direct and indirect GHG emissions or 500 TJ energy produced or consumed
2
87.5 kt CO2-e or 350 TJ
3
50 kt CO2-e or 200 TJ (includes subsequent years)
What this essentially means is that in 2008 companies producing 125,000 tonnes of greenhouse gas or more than 500 terajoules of energy are required to report. In 2009, companies outputting 87.5 tonnes greenhouse gas or more than 350 terajoules of energy are required to report. And so on.
Key Features:
- National, streamlined system for greenhouse and energy reporting (i.e. the online OSCAR system);
- $26.1 million in Government funding, over 5 years;
- Standard reporting data set;
- Consistent methodology;
- Annual report.
Impacts:
- Requirement for registered corporations to keep records & provide reports;
- Security and disclosure of information;
- Compliance and enforcement.
Description:
Up to this point there have been a number of state specific programs to monitor energy use and greenhouse gas emissions. This new legislation implements a federal system for company reporting, with consistent data collected across Australia. This reduces the overall 'data' cost i.e. manipulating data into appropriate formats for each reporting system, thus in theory reducing time and cost.
The report leading up to this legislation found that there were approximately 3077 companies reporting these elements, producing up to 7475 reports a year, at a cost of $16.2 million annually. The single system method in this legislation is estimated to reduce reporting costs by 9% for business and 16% for government.
IT Watch:
The IT department may be asked to review and revise reporting mechanisms to enable business to effectively meet the new legislation requirements. If you are from a company that already reports these elements, then it may just be a case of consolidation. If you are from a company that doesn't already report these elements, you may be asked to implement new systems or modify existing ones to obtain the correct reporting mechanisms.
For more general information, see http://www.greenhouse.gov.au/reporting/
References:
Parliament of the Commonwealth of Australia 2007, National Greenhouse and Energy Reporting Bill 2007 - Explanatory Memorandum, House of Representatives, Australian Government, http://parlinfoweb.aph.gov.au/piweb/Repository/Legis/ems/Linked/15080704.pdf
Parliament of the Commonwealth of Australia 2007, National Greenhouse and Energy Reporting Bill 2007, House of Representatives, Environment and Water Resources, Australian Government, http://parlinfoweb.aph.gov.au/piweb/Repository/Legis/Bills/Linked/15080701.pdf
