We have just enabled a new ’search’ function in our on-line 2009 Sustainability Report to help you locate the information you need easily and quickly. If you are familiar with the Global Reporting Inititative (GRI), you may also like to navigate though our report using the GRI Index.

The Government today has announced that a COAG review into the Renewable Energy Target will consider factors that may be impacting upon the Renewable Energy Certificate (REC) market in the short and long term. “The review will explicitly examine the current state of the RET spot market and whether the spot market has any implications for the deployment of large-scale projects such as wind farms,” Senator Wong said. Senator Wong said uncertainty regarding the establishment of the Carbon Pollution Reduction Scheme could be harming market sentiment and impacting on the REC spot price. AGL agrees that uncertainty is a problem but the RET should also be amended so that only electricity generation is eligible (in other words non-electricity generation sources such as solar hot water should be transitioned out of the RET)

With the deadline for reporting under the NGER Act passing at the start of the week, talk is turning to compliance – how is the government going to enforce compliance and what effect will this have on corporates required to report.  The media has immediately jumped on the spectre of CEO fines, with the AFR noting that “more than 100 chief executives could be held personally liable….. after failing to meet a mandatory deadline”. It’s not clear what this number is based on, but it will be interesting to watch the release of disclosures at end of February next year to see who hasn’t reported.  AGL has submitted its reporting and will continue working with government to ensure effective compliance.

The announcement on the weekend that the Government will reduce the rebate for insulation installation from $1,600 to $1,200 has generated a bit of discussion online. There is no doubt that insulation has become very cost effective for households with the range of energy efficiency schemes across the country in addition to the Commonwealth rebate. The Government has provided information on the changes here http://www.environment.gov.au/minister/garrett/2009/mr20091101.html. I think there is also a need to review the level of support for solar hot water at present. The level of support is disadvantaging suppliers of gas hot water systems and the cost of subsidies per tonne for gas is only $10. This compares very favourably with the $75/tonne abatement subsidies for solar hot water.

One of the great things about this year’s AGL Sustainability Report (www.aglsustainability.com.au) is that it includes some great new sections and commitments. In particular, the following are worth checking out:

• Transformation of energy markets: In this new section, we attempt to show how sustainability is crucial to long-term company performance in markets where fundamental change is occuring. Around the world, energy security and climate change policies are resulting in structural changes to energy markets. This new section shows how economic, social and environmental issues are critical in maximising value in this environment of rapid change.
• Commitment to become Australia’s largest retailer of renewable energy by volume. AGL is already Australia’s largest privately owned renewable energy producer. We are now commited to becoming the biggest retailer by volume.
• New coal investments: AGL does not believe that investments in the development of new conventional coal fired generation is

Hi blogging world. It has been a while since Andrew and I have been blogging. But we are back and its with great pleasure that the first blog I’m doing relates to the release of AGL’s new 2009 Sustainability Report. Its available at www.aglsustainability.com.au. I hope you all find it very interesting. It is the culmination of many months hard work by people across the AGL business. Special mentions though need to go to: Cathlin Thurbon, AGL’s Sustainability Manager, who has led the process from start to finish; Andrew Dudgeon, AGL’s Manager Carbon Project Analysis, one of Australia’s leading greenhouse accountants; and Fiona Orton, who has recently started full-time at AGL after working for GHD.