1. Safety net shunned for investor protection
  2. Budget tax win over losses
  3. Spain tumbles back into recession
  4. Two-speed economy to widen
  5. Slower inflation gives RBA room for a 25-point cut, say economists
  6. IMF warns resource prices on way down
  7. Investment boom 'at peak'
  8. China manufacturing posts another monthly gain
  9. Bernanke flags continued low rates to boost jobs
  10. Retail investors the key to $40bn growth
  11. Apple taps cash stash for investor payout
  12. IMF chief cautiously upbeat on global economy
  13. Signs of Europe recovery offset by China weakness: OECD
  14. Greece closes critical debt deal with creditors
  15. ANZ expands in China with local currency products
  16. Less gold mined last year, but it was worth more
  17. Woolies to invest $2bn
  18. Coles to put hotels on the block
  19. Telstra signs up for NBN fibre-optic superhighway
  20. Interest rates where they should be: RBA
  21. Costco's $140m stores plan
  22. Banks face dividend hit, says Westpac as funding crunch threatens payouts
  23. Obama backs Buffet rule, higher taxes on oil industry and private equity
  24. Cautious economists tip US economy to surprise on upside
  25. Greeks seal fresh austerity deal, eurozone ministers mull debt restructure
  26. IMF shaves growth estimates for China from 9pc to 8.25pc
  27. A coin toss, but RBA likely to cut rates
  28. Retail sales drop 0.1pc in December: ABS
  29. Westpac CEO Kelly defends job cuts, refuses to comment on passing on rate cuts
  30. ANZ treasurer sees positive signs in eurozone despite funding troubles
  31. First-half results for some sectors tipped to be a bloodbath
  32. Woodside kicks off $1bn Browse sale as plans for processing plant may be axed
  33. 35,000 jobs at risk as advice reforms bite
  34. Finance sector faces big squeeze with low credit growth and high dollar
  35. Deadlocked Greek debt negotiations threaten to delay key bailout talks
  36. Beijing to stimulate economy as growth heads below 9pc
  37. ECB president Mario Draghi more upbeat as holds rates
  38. Merkel, Sarkozy up pressure on Greece, agree to push financial transaction tax
  39. Retailers made to work hard for the money by post-Christmas shoppers
  40. Manufacturing expands in December despite weak demand
  41. ECB pledge to help banks as funding pressures rise
  42. Europe crisis to hit home as liquidity dries up, says Wesfarmers
  43. JB Hi-Fi warns of earnings slump
  44. Euro banks on brink in funding crisis as collateral crunch threatens system
  45. Europe banks face $150bn capital shortfall
  46. Standard and Poor's warns of mass eurozone downgrades
  47. Rate prospects unclear as euro rescue develops
  48. CBA, Macquarie say Standard and Poor's downgrade won't affect funding
  49. Fitch lowers outlook on US to negative, affirms triple-A status
  50. Telstra chief overhauls Telstra for NBN game
  51. Leaders must 'hurry up' and solve Europe crisis: RBA's Stevens
  52. Hopes fade for US supercommittee deal on deficit reductions
  53. Risks of global recession mount
  54. U.S. Banks Face Contagion Risk From Europe Debt
  55. Greece Starts Talks With Banks on Debt Swap
  56. BHP's shale gas payoff
  57. Branded wines 'hard pressed'
  58. EU warns of recession through 2012
  59. Italian bonds hit record as Berlusconi fights for survival
  60. Emissions: who comes clean?

Emissions: who comes clean?

November 7, 2011

A ''TWO-SPEED'' business response to climate change is emerging, with the financial sector well ahead of energy and utility companies in disclosing their emissions and taking steps to reduce them, a review has found.

The annual survey of Australia's and New Zealand's biggest companies by the Carbon Disclosure Project, released today, finds 54 per cent of ASX 100 companies that responded to the review already have their own emissions reduction targets in place, falling to 45 per cent across the ASX 200.

And just 4 per cent of companies told the survey that carbon pricing was a high risk to their business, while 33 per cent rated the risk as medium or higher.

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The snapshot of industry's response to climate change comes ahead of the historic vote in the Senate tomorrow to pass Labor's carbon price scheme.

The survey also reveals 386 measures already being taken to reduce emissions across 86 per cent of responding companies, with energy-efficiency programs the most popular.

The annual survey asks companies to measure and disclose what climate change means for their business and ranks them on the quality of information they release. Half of ASX 200 companies responded to this year's survey, up 3 per cent from last year.

Carbon Disclosure Project director James Day told BusinessDay there were good signs in the large number of measures in place to reduce emissions across the S&P/ASX 200 Index companies.

But Mr Day said while companies with good records in previous years' surveys had continued to make gains, other highly emitting industries such as energy and major industrial processing were lagging, with some individual companies such as energy giant AGL notable exceptions.

The survey found of all the Australian and New Zealand companies that responded, 85 per cent of utilities and 83 per cent of all energy companies did not have any carbon emission reduction target.

Companies given the highest scores for disclosure of the climate change impact on the business were CFS Retail Property Trust, Commonwealth Property Office Fund and Westpac.

Overall, greenhouse gas emissions fell from companies responding to the survey in both 2010 and 2011 by 16 million tonnes.

The report was prepared by economic consultants Deloitte, which carried out the survey on behalf of 551 global institutional investors with assets of $71 trillion.

Article by Tom Arup from TheAge Business Day