Industry experts believe that the new carbon trading scheme will hit SMEs where it hurts – their pockets.
The National Centre for Sustainability’s Richard Lester says that large companies caught under the proposed new laws are already beginning to put pressure on smaller suppliers to minimise their carbon footprint.
“While the (legislation) at this stage, will only have a direct impact on fairly large organisations, we are increasingly finding small to medium enterprises that supply goods and services to larger companies and to government are being asked to provide quite detailed information on their carbon footprint.”
This will lead to SMEs having to fork out more money for carbon products in order to prove they are taking measures to reduce their carbon footprint.
General manager of the Victorian Employers’ Chamber of Commerce and Industry’s Centre for Innovation and Sustainability, Kate Nicolazzo, believes that small and medium businesses will face higher input costs in the new scheme.
“SMEs will be largely impacted by rising costs which will be raised as a direct result of the cost of carbon (traded on the carbon market) being added to most goods and services.”
In order to help small and medium businesses understand the new carbon trading scheme, Australian Exhibitions and Conferences is holding a Carbon Reduction & Trading Expo and Conference in Melbourne from March 31 – April 2. For more information, please visit www.actexpo.com.au
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