Statement on The Age article

Commentary from Corporate Carbon Managing Director, Gary Wyatt is below:

Definitive climate action is needed now more than ever and carbon credits play a small but important bridging role in climate policy. However, for large-scale impact, Australia needs greater government regulation, policy and investment to drive the avoidance and reduction of emissions across the broader economy to meet our international climate commitments.

The enormous task of decarbonisation and reducing our collective carbon footprint falls not just on large energy companies, but on all of us.

This will not be achieved if all businesses, including energy companies, do not participate in the transition. Everything we know about human behaviour tells us that the required transformation of the economy will require either strong incentives, strong regulation, or a mix of both. Australia’s climate policies, including the Safeguard Mechanism, ensure that these incentives are only truly realised if a business is actively decreasing their carbon footprint.

While avoiding and reducing emissions as much as possible is key to achieving the goal of net zero by 2050, high-quality carbon credits - delivered with integrity - are a crucial, cost-effective mechanism for hard-to-abate emissions, creating momentum on climate action while new technologies are being developed and scaled.

Reaching this target requires large-scale collaboration and investment. Corporate Carbon will work with partners that help us achieve our goal of delivering carbon dioxide removals at the gigatonne scale. As a minority shareholder, Shell has been a valuable investor in our carbon projects and company. But as a leading carbon developer in the Australian carbon market, we work with an extensive range of stakeholders, including corporates both large and small, Traditional Owners and First Nations communities, farmers, State and Federal governments, industry associations and academics - all with the goal of driving climate action.