- Oil and gas producer Origin Energy Ltd says the federal government’s proposed emissions trading scheme (ETS) should be passed in order to provide certainty.
A parliamentary vote on the Carbon Pollution Reduction Scheme (CPRD) is expected on Monday. Speaking to ABC’s Inside Business program, chief executive Grant King said choices would be clearer for the industry if Australia had an ETS. ‘In the context of the Australian energy industry, a scheme would bring certainty as to future decision-making,’ Mr King said. ‘The question we would ask simply is ‘what choice would society want us to make about fuel, what fuel should we use?’ and if that choice is not clear, we can’t build the power stations that the community needs in the long run to make sure we have a safer, competitive and less carbon intensive supply of energy.’ Mr King said he could not confirm Goldman Sachs’ estimate that the company would receive an earnings upside of four to nine per cent from the CPRS, but said Origin was well positioned to benefit if an ETS was introduced. ‘We’ve quite consciously positioned ourselves such that we don’t believe there’s any downside if the world decides to implement an ETS or a carbon reduction scheme,’ he said. ‘I’m not blessing the four or nine per cent, it sounds like a forecast, but we would expect to do better if a carbon scheme was introduced, but our business isn’t premised on a carbon scheme being introduced.’
