Australian mission offering carbon reduction services

Joyce Hooi, Business Times 5 Feb 10;

LOCAL companies with big energy bills might soon find it easier to shrink fuel costs and gain a second revenue stream if a newly formed 'carbon cluster' from Australia takes off.

Representatives of a group of 20 Australian companies that provide services related to carbon reduction will be in Kuala Lumpur on March 1 and 2, as part of a mission to drum up business from Asean companies.

The companies represent the eight or so parties that are necessary to upgrade technology to lower carbon emissions from business activity.

So far, this group - branded the 'carbon cluster' - collectively offer carbon trading, carbon inventory management, energy project design and technical expertise. Four finance companies have also come on board and can offer financing solutions to interested businesses.

The Australian Trade Commission, which organised the mission, hopes to sell companies the appeal of a one-stop solution to the prospect of technology upgrading to cut carbon emissions, which also brings in a stream of revenue from resulting carbon credits.

Garth Taylor, Australia's Asean clean energy trade commissioner, expects more than 100 firms to visit the carbon mission next month. 'Companies stand to make gains of 20-30 per cent in energy efficiency through new technology,' he told BT yesterday.

On top of that, an investment of about US$1.5 million by a small palm oil mill in effluent treatment and methane capture technology could net the firm about 20,000 carbon credits a year, Mr Taylor estimated.

Larger projects, for a firm like a cement manufacturer, for example, might need to spend US$10-20 million on switching from diesel to natural gas, but would net about half a million of carbon credits every year.

'Companies in Singapore are already investing in lower-emission technologies because they consider domestic and international agreements will increasingly put environmental constraints on their licences,' Mr Taylor said.

The market for carbon-reduction in the Asean region is a burgeoning one, according to him.

With a population of almost 600 million people and a clean development mechanism (CDM) carbon project market equal to roughly 40 per cent of China's, the region is fertile ground for the industry.

The Australian Trade Commission aims to help the carbon cluster secure 10 projects within 18 months.