NSW takes action on Climate Change

NSW takes action on Climate Change

Deputy Premier and Minister for Climate Change and the Environment, Carmel Tebbutt, will meet with the state's key climate change expert panel for the first time today to progress the NSW Climate Change Action Plan.

The meeting with the NSW Climate Change Council comes ahead of the Government's 11 regional forums being held across NSW from the end of this month.

"NSW is focussing on how we can manage the inevitable changes climate change will bring and how we can best complement carbon trading," Ms Tebbutt said.

"A key part of our plan is the $150 million Energy Efficiency Strategy to help families and businesses across the state reduce their energy consumption.

"We are serious about managing this global issue at a local level, which is why we have convened the expert Climate Change Council to oversee development of the state's first Climate Change Action Plan.

"This eminent panel includes some of Australia's leading experts in business, economics, climate change science and environmental policy who will guide our response to an issue which will affect every person in NSW," Ms Tebbutt said.

The members of the NSW Climate Change Council are -

• Martijn Wilder Partner Baker & McKenzie (Chair)
• Maria Atkinson Lend Lease Corporation
• Greg Bourne WWF Australia
• John O'Connor The Climate Change Institute
• Diana Gibbs former Chair NSW Regional Communities Council
• Brooke Miller BP Solar P/L
• Sam Mostyn formerly with Insurance Australia Group
• Paul Orton NSW Business Chamber
• Andy Pitman UNSW
• Adam Spencer journalist and broadcaster
• Lorraine Stephenson Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu

The Climate Change Action Plan will outline how NSW will reduce its emissions, how we will prepare for the unavoidable impacts of climate change and how NSW will work closely with the business community to prosper in a new global low carbon economy.

Ms Tebbutt said NSW was committed to capitalising on the rapidly expanding market opportunities that emissions trading would bring.

"The global carbon market is already worth around US$100 billion a year in traded emissions and supporting legal and financial services," Ms Tebbutt said.

"It is worth another US$200 billion in clean technology project investment.

"To have sustainable jobs growth and wealth creation we will need to tap into the new growth markets - which is why the Commonwealth Government's Carbon Pollution Reduction Scheme is such an important reform.

"It will help drive long term growth and innovation in existing, emerging and as yet unthought of new industries in Australia," she said.

Ms Tebbutt said climate change could present new opportunities for local business communities in regional NSW, who have an important role in developing the Climate Change Action Plan.

"Global warming has changed weather patterns and we can expect more extreme events - bushfires, floods, storms and rising sea levels," Ms Tebbutt said.

"However climate change will affect local communities differently, which is why we are preparing the most accurate and localised information to date about how climate change will affect rainfall, temperatures and the physical environment in each region from the north coast to the far west.

"We're taking our effort on the road to talk directly to local communities about this new information and how climate change will affect their individual regions.

"At the same time we want to exchange information with our communities, families, farmers and businesses about their priorities in the face of these changes, and what practical actions we need to take to address economic, social and environmental issues," said Ms Tebbutt.

The forums will be held in:

Armidale 29 September

Media contact: Andrew Heslop - 02 9228 4866 or 0447 645 973

Released 16.09.2008