Australian Industry Greenhouse Network
Encyclopedia
The Australian Industry Greenhouse Network (AIGN) is an organisation that lobbies Australian State and Federal Governments
about climate change issues on behalf of some sectors of Australian Industry. According to a Four Corners report with the same name, and author and whistleblower Dr Guy Pearse
, a group of core members of the AIGN describe themselves as the Greenhouse Mafia
and have been highly successful at lobbying the Australian Government. On the same Four Corners report Robyn Bain, former Chairman of the AIGN, denied that she had ever heard the term "Greenhouse Mafia".
in 2006, John Daley, the chief executive of the AIGN, stated on the subject of a carbon price signal:
The AIGN has made submissions to both the state based National Emissions Trading Taskforce and the federal Prime Ministerial Task Group on Emissions Trading
. Recommendations from these submissions have included that:
In 2008 the Australian Industry Greenhouse Network (AIGN) made a submission to the Garnaut Climate Change Review
. In the submission the AIGN expressed concerns about an Australian target of 60% of 2000 emissions by 2050 with a 'sweetener' of 90% as an inducement for a global agreement. The AIGN was also concerned about the "proposed per capita approach to target setting" and was worried that "shareholders in some assets will bear losses disproportionate to others".
Individual Business Members:
Australian governments
Australia employs a federal system of government. The national government is the Australian federal government, headed by the Queen, who is represented in Australia by the Governor-General of Australia, though ordinarily actual political power is wielded by the Prime Minister of Australia under the...
about climate change issues on behalf of some sectors of Australian Industry. According to a Four Corners report with the same name, and author and whistleblower Dr Guy Pearse
Guy Pearse
Guy Pearse is an Australian author and a Research Fellow at the at the University of Queensland. His first book titled High & Dry: John Howard, climate change and the selling of Australia's future was published in 2007....
, a group of core members of the AIGN describe themselves as the Greenhouse Mafia
Greenhouse Mafia
Greenhouse Mafia is allegedly the "in house" name used by Australia’s carbon lobby for itself. It was also the title of a program aired by the ABC on the 13 February 2006 episode of its weekly current affairs program Four Corners....
and have been highly successful at lobbying the Australian Government. On the same Four Corners report Robyn Bain, former Chairman of the AIGN, denied that she had ever heard the term "Greenhouse Mafia".
Emissions Trading
In a speech on emissions tradingEmissions trading
Emissions trading is a market-based approach used to control pollution by providing economic incentives for achieving reductions in the emissions of pollutants....
in 2006, John Daley, the chief executive of the AIGN, stated on the subject of a carbon price signal:
The AIGN has made submissions to both the state based National Emissions Trading Taskforce and the federal Prime Ministerial Task Group on Emissions Trading
Prime Ministerial Task Group on Emissions Trading
On 10 December 2006, the Australian Prime Minister John Howard announced the establishment of the Prime Ministerial Task Group on Emissions Trading...
. Recommendations from these submissions have included that:
- Some greenhouse gas emission permits should be allocated for free to compensate for the loss in asset values that many firms will instantly suffer from the introduction of the scheme. These allocations would be for the remaining life of the asset that was expected before the trading scheme was implemented and the holder would be free to sell these permits even if the asset were closed down before that time;
- Some permits should be allocated for free for new investment for as long as is needed by trade exposed, energy/emissions intensive industry to retain its competitive position where there is no universal global scheme;
- Free allocation linked to past emissions (known as grandfathering), or in the case of a baseline-and-credit scheme, the allocation of benchmarks;
- Property rights – the value of permits (and offset credits) issued by the Government need to be fully underwritten by the ‘just terms’ compensation provisions of the Constitution.
- Existing mandatory Federal and State schemes that overlap with and duplicate the national emissions trading scheme should be abolished or phased out. The property rights that would be extinguished where existing schemes are no longer of value should be fully compensated.
In 2008 the Australian Industry Greenhouse Network (AIGN) made a submission to the Garnaut Climate Change Review
Garnaut Climate Change Review
The Garnaut Climate Change Review was a study by Professor Ross Garnaut, commissioned by then Opposition Leader, Kevin Rudd and by the Australian State and Territory Governments on 30 April 2007...
. In the submission the AIGN expressed concerns about an Australian target of 60% of 2000 emissions by 2050 with a 'sweetener' of 90% as an inducement for a global agreement. The AIGN was also concerned about the "proposed per capita approach to target setting" and was worried that "shareholders in some assets will bear losses disproportionate to others".
Membership
Industry Association Members:- Australian Aluminium Council (Ron KnappRon KnappRon Knapp has been the CEO of the Australian Aluminium Council since 2001, after heading the World Coal Institute.In a speech given in Adelaide on 20 February 2006, Clive Hamilton identifies Knapp as one of Australia's climate change "dirty dozen", a group of climate change skeptics with...
) - Australasian (Iron and Steel) Slag Association (Craig Heidrich)
- Australian Coal AssociationAustralian Coal AssociationThe Australian Coal Association is the major Australian coal mining industry lobby group. It represents the black coal producers of New South Wales and Queensland and consists of a number of relatively small coal mining companies or subsidiaries of larger corporations in those two states...
(Ralph Hillman) - Australian Institute of Petroleum (Dr John Tilley)
- Australian Trucking Association
- Minerals Council of Australia (Peter Morris)
- National Generator's Forum (John Boshier)
- National Association of Forest Industries
- Plastics and Chemicals Industries Association (Peter Gniel)
- Australian Petroleum Production and Exploration Association (Belinda Robinson)
- Australian Plantation Products and Paper Industry Council (Miles Prosser)
- Cement Industry Federation (Robyn Bain)
- Federal Chamber of Automotive Industries (Andrew McKellar)
Individual Business Members:
- ChevronChevron CorporationChevron Corporation is an American multinational energy corporation headquartered in San Ramon, California, United States and active in more than 180 countries. It is engaged in every aspect of the oil, gas, and geothermal energy industries, including exploration and production; refining,...
Australia Pty Ltd - Woodside PetroleumWoodside PetroleumWoodside Petroleum Limited is an Australian petroleum exploration and production company. It is a public company listed on the Australian Securities Exchange and has its headquarters in Perth, Western Australia.-History:...
Limited - XstrataXstrataXstrata plc is a global mining company headquartered in Zug, Switzerland and with its registered office in London, United Kingdom. It is a major producer of coal , copper, nickel, primary vanadium and zinc and the world's largest producer of ferrochrome...
Coal Australia Pty Ltd - CSRCSRCSR may refer to:In business:* CSR Limited, an Australian industrial company, formerly known as Colonial Sugar Refining Company* CSR plc, or Cambridge Silicon Radio, a British silicon chip designer and software company...
Limited - ExxonMobilExxonMobilExxon Mobil Corporation or ExxonMobil, is an American multinational oil and gas corporation. It is a direct descendant of John D. Rockefeller's Standard Oil company, and was formed on November 30, 1999, by the merger of Exxon and Mobil. Its headquarters are in Irving, Texas...
- Hydro Aluminium Kurri Kurri
- Santos Ltd.Santos Ltd.Santos Ltd. is a large Australian oil and gas exploration company. Its name is an acronym for South Australia Northern Territory Oil Search.-Operations:...
- Tomago Aluminum Company Pty Ltd
- WesfarmersWesfarmersWesfarmers Limited is one of Australia’s largest public companies and one of Australia's largest retailers. Its headquarters are in Perth, Western Australia....
Limited - BHP BillitonBHP BillitonBHP Billiton is a global mining, oil and gas company headquartered in Melbourne, Australia and with a major management office in London, United Kingdom...
- ShellRoyal Dutch ShellRoyal Dutch Shell plc , commonly known as Shell, is a global oil and gas company headquartered in The Hague, Netherlands and with its registered office in London, United Kingdom. It is the fifth-largest company in the world according to a composite measure by Forbes magazine and one of the six...
Australia Limited - BPBPBP p.l.c. is a global oil and gas company headquartered in London, United Kingdom. It is the third-largest energy company and fourth-largest company in the world measured by revenues and one of the six oil and gas "supermajors"...
Australia - Rio TintoRio Tinto GroupThe Rio Tinto Group is a diversified, British-Australian, multinational mining and resources group with headquarters in London and Melbourne. The company was founded in 1873, when a multinational consortium of investors purchased a mine complex on the Rio Tinto river, in Huelva, Spain from the...
Australia Limited - CaltexCaltexCaltex is a petroleum brand name of Chevron Corporation used in more than 60 countries in the Asia-Pacific region, the Middle East, and southern Africa.-History:...
Australia - MitsuiMitsuiis one of the largest corporate conglomerates in Japan and one of the largest publicly traded companies in the world.-History:Founded by Mitsui Takatoshi , who was the fourth son of a shopkeeper in Matsusaka, in what is now today's Mie prefecture...
and Co. (Australia) Limited - Origin EnergyOrigin Energy-History:Origin Energy was formed in February 2000, as a result of a demerger from the Australian conglomerate Boral Limited, in which the energy business was removed from the building and construction materials business to form the new company....
Limited - AlcoaAlcoaAlcoa Inc. is the world's third largest producer of aluminum, behind Rio Tinto Alcan and Rusal. From its operational headquarters in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, Alcoa conducts operations in 31 countries...
of Australia Limited - Adelaide Brighton Ltd
- Cement Australia
- Thiess