Carbon debate heats up at LIA

Carbon tax was a hot issue at last night’s LIA seminar featuring Phillip Lawrence and Chris Sewell.

The issue is topical in all industries, though the effect which a tax will have on printing is yet to be felt. The LIA’s Grant Churchill, however, believes it is likely to be considerable. “The printing industry is set to feel the heat as costs of annual reporting increase,” he said.

Phillip Lawrence looked at three possible carbon taxes: a cap-and-trade tax; a broad-based carbon tax which would operate under a user-pays system and a voluntary market mechanism.

Lawrence concluded that a cap-and-trade-style tax is the one most likely to succeed. “Economists say it’s best because it drives efficiency at the big end of town,” he said. “I think that’s the direction the Australian government will go in the future.”

Pictured: Ian Walz of Printing Industries; Phillip Lawrence and Chris Sewell.

Chris Sewell, CEO and founder of The Gaia Partnership, demonstrated his company’s CO2 counter carbon calculator which is used by the ANZ bank (whose print contract is managed by Stream Solutions).

Peter Sharpe, manager of sustainable sourcing at ANZ spoke about why the bank sees this as an important step. “ANZ’s aim is to include the measurement of CO2 into our purchase decision-making for print services,” he said.

“Our current print provider in Australia and New Zealand [Stream Solutions] has installed the CO2 counter into their reporting systems, enabling ANZ to estimate the CO2 generated.”

Question time saw none other than industry commentator, James Cryer, who last week penned his thoughts on the matter, express some cynicism over carbon measuring devices – comparing the idea to witch-hunting and the war on terror. “We just keep falling for these fads every time,” he said.

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