15 June 2009

The Australian Conservation Foundation and the Australian Climate Justice Program have asked the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) to investigate whether six companies have engaged in misleading or deceptive conduct when making public statements on climate change policy.

The complaint sets out 14 instances in which six corporations have made statements about the impacts of the Government's proposed Carbon Pollution Reduction Scheme (CPRS).

The complaint alleges these statements are exaggerated and contradictory when compared with the companies' disclosures to shareholders and independent analysis.

The six companies named in the complaint are Rio Tinto, Woodside, Xstrata, Boral, Caltex and BlueScope Steel.

"We believe there is a prima facie case for investigating possible breaches of the Trade Practices Act," said ACF executive director Don Henry.

"Some of Australia's biggest corporate poluters appear to be presenting the worst case to government and the public, in an effort to gain excessive free permits, while presenting the best case to investors, in order to keep their share prices up.

"We are asking the ACCC to investigate whether our politicans, policymakers and the public have been deceived by the likes of Rio Tinto, Woodside and Xstrata.

Recent analysis by RiskMetrics shows corporate welfare has blown out to $16.4 billion under the most recent version of the emissions trading legislation.

"It is reprehensible for corporations to be saying one thing to politicans and the public and something completely different to their shareholders," Mr Henry said.

"Big polluters shouldn't get a free ride under the emissions trading scheme just because they've got the loudest voices.

"ACF urges business to be part of the solution to climate change, not just part of the problem."

ACJP Corporate Climate Risk Report - 200 pages

ACF and ACJP Complaint to  ACCC

30 January 2009 

Ultimo, NSW, AUS/Oakland, CA, USA - The Australian Climate Justice Program and the US-based Earthjustice have sent a petition to UNESCO's World Heritage Committee requesting action at their next meeting to protect World Heritage sites from the global warming impacts of black carbon air pollution, which accelerates the impacts of global warming in high latitude and high altitude regions. Such glacier loss and the resulting sea level rise threaten many other World Heritage sites globally, especially those dependent on meltwater from glaciers, or those with coral reefs or near coastal lowlands.

Recent scientific studies have found black carbon, a component of soot, or fine particulate air pollution that comes from the burning of fossil fuels, biofuels, and biomass, is a key climate disruptor. Black carbon has a strong warming effect in the atmosphere and when it lands on snow, ice caps and glaciers. By reducing the reflectivity of these surfaces, black carbon causes widespread and faster melting, causing sea level rise and other climate changes.

Because black carbon remains in the atmosphere for only a handful of days, compared to other greenhouse gases which may remain in the atmosphere for over 100 years, reducing black carbon emissions may be among the most effective near-term strategies for slowing the amplified climate warming. Yet the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change does not address global warming caused by black carbon. The petition urges the World Heritage Committee to step into the breach to preserve World Heritage until the long-term effects of the UNFCCC process can be realised. The petition requests the Committee to place climate-threatened sites on the "List of World Heritage in Danger," to advance research and mitigation strategies to reduce black carbon, and to alert the UNFCCC and others about this threat to World Heritage sites.

"With immediate action, the World Heritage Committee can assist States Parties to reduce emissions of this pollutant and slow the rate of glacial melt and resulting sea level rise that threaten World Heritage sites such as the Great Barrier Reef and Kakadu National Park," said Keely Boom of the Australian Climate Justice Program.

"Because black carbon has an atmospheric lifetime of only days or weeks, reducing emissions has an immediate effect that can slow global warming in the near term," said Jessica Lawrene of Earthjustice. "As our petition outlines, such immediate actoin may be necessary to protect many World Heritage sites such as Waterton Glacier International Peace Park on the U.S./Canada border, the Ilulissat Icefjord in Greenland, and Sagarmatha National Park in Nepal, where Mount Everest is located."

Black Carbon: A Powerful Global Warming Pollutant

Black carbon is released into the atmosphere during the inefficient burning of fossil fuels, biofuels, and biomass. It is often transported long distances by air currents. Because the dark-coloured particles absorb sunlight, black carbon warms the top of the atmophere. When deposited on ice and snow, it reduces the albedo, or reflectivity, of these surfaces, and increases the rate of melting. As these surfaces melt, the darker water or land exposed below absorbs more incoming sunlight, causing additional warming. Black carbon is considered to be the second most powerful contributor to global warming after carbon dioxide.

Unlike CO2 and other greenhouse gases that contribute to global warming for decades or centuries once in the atmosphere, black carbon is a short-lived forcer, remaining in the atmosphere for days to weeks. Because of thise, reducing black carbon emissions can be an effective rapid response to slow warming in the near term, protecting arctic and montane glaciers as well as snow pack and permafrost and buying critical time to realise reduction in long-lived greenhouse gases like CO2. Black carbon emissions can be sharply reduced with existing technologies, for example by improving the efficiency of fuel combustion; switching to less polluting fuels in ships, locomotives and aircraft; installing particle traps on diesel vehicles, generators, and smokestacks of power plants and industrial facilities; controlling agricultural residue burning; and providing alternatives such as charcoal briquettes and more efficient stoves to reduce the use of raw coal, wood and dung fuels for cooking and residential heating.

Read the petition here.