Carbon and Emissions tax? What climate change means for your business.
We hear you when you tell us that there is so much to know as a small business owner, and sometimes you don’t know where to look.
In our article Australian Law 101 for Small Business, we wrote about the importance of being compliant with Australian Consumer Law and other legal requirements of Australian commercial law. Legal compliance is key –and your starting point is right here.
The topic of climate change and the implications for business owners has been coming up a lot since the recent federal election here in Australia. In the lead up to the election you may have heard talk about carbon and emissions taxes and wondered how this might affect you and your business.We are diving in here to explain what you need to know, and what may be helpful for you as a small business owner.
In general terms, under a carbon or emissions tax, the government sets a price that emitters must pay for each tonne of greenhouse gas emissions they emit. The intended result is that businesses and consumers will take steps, such as switching fuels or adopting new technologies, to reduce their emissions to avoid paying the tax and in doing so help address climate change.
In Australia we don’t currently have a carbon or emissions tax as part of the Australian commercial law landscape.
But the question remains what does climate change mean for your small business? The United Nations and many other organisations have shared their views on what climate change is and how they say it can potentially damage economies, promote resource scarcity, and increase the cost of doing business.
If you are wondering how your small business can play a role in addressing climate change and what you can do to reduce your emissions and carbon footprint, we have gathered together some resources addressing how you can start, if this is of interest to you.
Calculate your carbon footprint
As a starting point, it may be helpful for you to know what your business and personal carbon footprint is. If you are interested in calculating your own carbon footprint, Carbon Positive Australia has a personal carbon footprint calculator here.
Reduce, reuse, recycle
We all heat this a lot! Where possible, some of the easiest and effective efforts we can make are to reduce our use of items, the creation or use of which generate emissions, and to try to reuse and recycle where we can. (We suspect that many of you already choose to use packaging, stationery and other office supplies made from recycled materials.)
Reducing food waste
Is another frequently discussed step. We can do that at home by eating the food we buy and reducing the miles our food travels by buying from local growers. Even if your business is not operating in the restaurant or grocery business sectors, purchasing from other businesses that support local growers and farmers, may indirectly reduce food waste by minimising transportation in the food system.
Consider switching to green gas and electricity plans.
This is topical right now. You can check out Green Power to find a provider and the right GreenPower product for your business.
Apparently, web hosting is very energy intensive, and so we are told that we may want to think about finding a sustainable web hosting platform. Tech Radar has a very interesting article on the best green web hosting platforms in 2022 – you can read it here.
Purchase carbon offsets
When you purchase an offset, you are funding projects to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.There are many organisations who undertake projects to reduce emissions. We have listed three below:
Carbon Positive Australia
Is a registered Australian charity and raises money to plant trees in Australia through donations of trees and money and by providing carbon offset plans that you can purchase.
Greenfleet
Is another registered Australian charity that plants native biodiverse forests to capture carbon emissions though donations and carbon offsets you can purchase.
Cool Planet
Has offset hundreds of thousands of tonnes of emissions over the last 14 years for a broad range of clients. They state on their website that they have helped government departments, festivals, large corporate clients, small businesses and individuals be carbon neutral and reduce their environmental impact.
In terms of the Australian commercial law, it seems that at the moment small businesses are better off taking steps that are aligned for them, and that are consistent with their business values to engage with the topic of climate change, if that is something that is important to you.
If you are keen to read more about what we say small business owners can do to future proof your business, you can do so here, and in the spirit of breaking things down, this resource here about breaking down the legal jargon may also be of interest.
If you need help in your business - book in for a free 20-minute consult and let’s start taking care of things for you.