Glen
Hi all,
From now on you might see some short posts like this one from HAC staff members and some of our close friends. They might be observations, quirky questions or quick information-shares. Essentially, it’s a way for us to express ourselves personally - to not just take the ’endorsed company line’ but to provide some insight as to who we are as individuals and what makes us tick!
So, what is my observation de-jour? Well, I just updated my personal budget for the year ahead, and came to the stark realisation that I was planning to spend almost TWICE AS MUCH on my morning caffeine fix than on electricity and gas combined for the year. Yet on some level I have been personally caught up in the hype about the impact of the impending introduction of emissions trading and a price on carbon. It’s only when you look at all of your expenses - which for most of us will include at least a few expenditures best described as ‘very discretionary’ - that you get some perspective on things. No matter how high the price of carbon gets, the worst it can do is deprive me of half my cafe-bought morning Jumbo Lattes. Not a bad trade-off to save the planet?
Which got me to thinking about the corporate equivalents to my caffeine fix; while there might not be as many corporate Learjets out there in 2010, is there still spending on discretionary items that would far outweigh the impact of emissions trading? While most businesses describe themselves as lean-and-mean, we know from experience that there are massive untapped opportunities to improve energy efficiency and general productivity, if companies will just take the time to look. So, my parting thought? I hope that companies will have a long hard look at their expenditures before opposing an emissions trading scheme or Carbon Pollution Reduction Scheme (CPRS) in 2010, on the basis of cost-impacts to their business, while they’re still guzzling lattes…
Cheers, Glen!
