MAJOR companies in Hobsons Bay have volunteered to come clean about their greenhouse gas emissions by signing up to a new pilot program.
The program, instroduced by the Environment Protection Authority (EPA) and running since last April, has seen 26 companies agree to include specific details of their greenhouse gas output in the National Pollutant Inventory (NPI).
Created in 1998, the NPI is a national register through which governments and businesses disclose emissions of around 100 substances, but not greenhouse gasses.
Greenhouse gases to be included in the new NPI pilot include carbon monoxide, methane, nitrous oxide, hydrofluorocarbons, perfluorocarbons and sulfur hexaflouride.
Companies in Hobsons Bay that have joined the program include Bonlac Foods, Dow Chemical, Toyota, Qenos and refiners Esso and MobilOil.
Geoff Latimer, manager of the EPA `s atmosphere and noise unit, said the pilot plan was a voluntary project that was initially offered to more than 100 companies.
He said the philosophy driving the pilot was the belief that the public deserved to be informed about the impact of industry on the environment.
“The fundamental principal behind the NPI and disclosure in general is the community’s right to know. The default position should be disclosure,” he said.
“The only way to be fair is to provide it (information) as transparently as you can.”
Mr Latimer said data from the first year of the pilot should be publicly available by May, after which the EPA would begin devising strategies to implement the scheme on a broader basis.
Environment Minister John Thwaites, who recently secured the support of the other states and territories for the greenhouse NPI program, said Victorians were already experiencing the effects of greenhouse pollution through climate change and extreme weather events and deserved to be fully briefed on greenhouse gas output levels.
Toyota Australia environment policy manager James Holgate said the company, like many others which reach “trigger points”, was already reporting to the EPA, but said the central register was a good idea. “It’s really a way of tracking the impact (of greenhouse gases) on the community and the environment.”
While the Altona Toyota plant produces little greenhouse pollution itself, generating electricity to run the factory – via coal burning power plants – is where the impact on the environment is felt.
Mr Holgate made the important point that by including greenhouse gases, which impact the environment on a global scale, the NPI could become relevant to areas beyond Melbourne or Australia.
Mr Holgate said adding greenhouse gases to the NPI made it a “one stop shop where we provide all the information to a single database,” which is then used by the EPA to gain a clearer picture of the environmental impact of industry.
Qenos environmental adviser Les Harman said the company’s proximity to the Altona community made open, public disclosure crucial for community confidence.
He said it was vital that companies were consistent when reporting emissions to ensure the public received reliable data. The NPI pilot program facilitated this process and prevented misinformation reaching the public, he said.
“We want to make sure we have a consistent basis for reporting greenhouse output. It is important that all the figures we put out in the public domain are the same,” he said
Mr Harman said Qenos had been disclosing greenhouse emissions for many years through its annual report and website but noted that many other companies chose not to do so. Such companies would be required to release this information if the greenhouse NPI project is implemented throughout the Australian industrial sector.
