Fed: Companies not required to report exact emissions - ACF

AAP General News (Australia)
08-15-2007
Fed: Companies not required to report exact emissions - ACF

CANBERRA, Aug 15 AAP - The federal government's reporting scheme for greenhouse gas
emissions falls short of requiring companies to provide meaningful information, the Australian
Conservation Foundation (ACF) says.

The government today introduced draft laws to federal parliament to set up the reporting
system next year, a step towards establishing an emissions trading system by 2012.

The ACF says companies would not need to publicly disclose the specific value of their
emissions as the bill only requires reporting a range of values.

"This gives us no assurance that we will have publicly available meaningful information
about corporate pollution levels," climate change campaigner Phil Freeman said.

Mr Freeman said companies also could request their data not be made public if it would
reveal trade secrets or diminish commercial value.

"There is no requirement that the relevant authority even disclose publicly the fact
that such a confidentiality order has been made," he said.

"Depending on implementation, this aspect has the potential to undermine the public
accountability function of the register."

AAP pw/sb/cjh/bwl

KEYWORD: CLIMATE ACF

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