“We can make a tonne of aluminium in Australia with 60 per cent of the energy that is used elsewhere in the world, and if we don’t make the commodity here it will be made elsewhere with an adverse environmental outcome.”
Alcoa of Australia’s Managing Director Alan Cransberg addressed a global audience as part of CNBC’s debate show Questions for the Future , which was filmed in Perth on 22 April.
As a member of an expert panel of four, Mr Cransberg helped lead the engaging debate which focused on energy use in Australia and explored how the country should move forward with an emissions trading scheme.
Mr Cransberg was adamant that action was needed to curb C02 emissions, an issue which it was agreed would be on the international agenda for decades to come, but that recognition had to be given to the economic impact if the price of an Emissions Trading Scheme (ETS) was set too high.
“We must remember that we compete on a global stage,” he told the studio audience, which consisted of over 100 representatives from industry, government and the not for profit sector.
“Alcoa believes that raising energy prices will lead to a lose-lose situation. If we look at Australia’s economy, which is based heavily on the mining, manufacturing and the minerals sector, 80 per cent of our export income comes from those sectors and 80 per cent of this is reinvested back into Australia.
“These sectors employ around one million Australians in well paying jobs, many in regional areas, and these jobs wouldn’t be replaced easily if they were forced to shut as part of the efforts to curtail the nation’s greenhouse emissions.
“Alcoa thinks it important to consider the impact on the Australian economy of higher industry costs. Raising energy prices will make our businesses uncompetitive compared to where they are at currently, and these businesses compete on a global environment.”
Mr Cransberg said it was essential for the economy to remain strong and robust, and while Alcoa was committed to taking action to stem emissions, the reality was that people would continue to consume energy in increasing amounts.
However there was no doubt that climate change was an issue that needed to be addressed and addressed urgently.
“Industry accepts climate change has to play a leading role within businesses, in fact it’s a business imperative,” he said.
“What we need to do is to make sure there is aggressive research and development to continuously improve our technology growth in the energy, manufacturing and industrial sectors.
“Australia must also take a long term perspective of its industry and we very much need to boost the debate when it comes to preserving our energy resources, not only for this generation but for future generations.”
The Cleaning up Carbon episode on CNBC Questions for the Future will be aired throughout Australian, Asia and Europe on 6 and 7 May 2008.
