SEGRA (Sustainable Economic Growth for Regional Australia) thirteenth national conference, 27-29 October 2009, Kalgoorlie-Boulder, WA [CD ROM]

Author: SEGRA (Sustainable Economic Growth for Regional Australia)

Papers presented include: Climate Change and the Green Revolution: what's in it for regional Australia -- Emissions Trading: an economic business perspective -- Sustainable Mining Futures and the Liveability of Mining Villages -- Delivering and Supporting Indigenous Participation in Regional Development -- Townsville: a regional development case study -- Infrastructure Australia and Smart Sustainable Regions.

Find it at: CD ROM SEG or
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Corporate responses to climate change : achieving emissions reductions through regulation, self-regulation and economic incentives [book]

Author: Rory Sullivan

"Analyses current business practice and performance on climate change, in the light of the dramatic changes in the regulatory and policy environment over the last five years. More specifically, it examines how climate change-related policy development and implementation have influenced corporate performance, with the objective of using this information to consider how the next stage of climate change policy - regulation, incentives, voluntary initiatives - may be designed and implemented in a manner that delivers the real and substantial reductions in greenhouse gas emissions that will be required." - cover.

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On the last day of Copenhagen, world leaders gave to me… no meaningful negotiated outcome (article)
by Alex Desbarres
from Datamonitor, 21/12/2009
"In its pre-Copenhagen White Paper, Datamonitor argued that significant efforts would be made to reach an ‘international agreement’ at Copenhagen; efforts which would undoubtedly be acclaimed as a resounding victory for all nations involved and for the prospects for greater long-term international co-operation between developed and developing nations. However, Datamonitor also predicted that such efforts would fall short of a binding international framework that would curb climate change to the extent that scientists deem necessary, and that the conference could not deliver a final agreement on a new, credible and meaningful climate change framework. As originally suspected, the conference has only managed to forge a rough international ‘understanding’ which is to be finalized in the many months and years to come."

THE WESTERN AUSTRALIAN POWER DILEMMA (journal article)
By Paul Simshauser and Phillip Wild
from Australian Economic Papers Vol 48 Iss 4 2009, pp. 342-369
"From 1984 gas-fired power generation had been gradually increasing its share of the electricity market in Western Australia (WA) starting at 1 per cent and rising to about 50 per cent by 2008. Had it continued on this trajectory, the WA power system would have made great advances in terms of cost and environmental efficiencies given the looming commencement of the Carbon Pollution Reduction Scheme in Australia from 2011. However, more recently the cost of natural gas has increased from $3/GJ to $7/GJ following the sudden collapse of the East Spar gas field in the North West Shelf. In this article, we analyse the impact of the gas price increase and demonstrate that despite being the most environmentally efficient conventional technology, natural gas combined cycle plant has been squeezed out of the market which in turn will increase forward electricity price risks to WA consumers through greater exposure to CO2 pricing in the long run."

Green business practices for dummies [book]

Author: Lisa Swallow

Covers: How to develop a sustainability plan; How to "green" a business's daily office practices, product development and production, and physical facilities; Involving customers and stakeholders in sustainable business practices; and Measuring and reporting on the progress.

Chapters include: Sustainability : the visionary way to grow a business -- Pushing up your green sleeves : implementation -- Involving stakeholders in your sustainability efforts -- Measuring and reporting results -- The part of tens.

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The ethanol challenge for the United States (journal article)
By Bill Caesar and Thomas Vanhoutte
from McKinsey Quarterly November 2009
"The US biofuels industry must address midstream ethanol distribution bottlenecks if it hopes to deliver next-generation ethanol in a cost-effective manner."
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The Big fella : the rise and rise of BHP Billiton [book]

Authors: Peter Thompson & Robert Macklin

"Here for the first time is the full, compelling story of how BHP rose from the humblest beginnings in the Australian outback to become, in conjunction with its partner Billiton, the biggest miner in the world today. ... Reveals the visions, the schemes, the scandals and the corporate life-and-death struggles that have characterised BHP's evolution." - cover.

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The Great Sugar Rush (article)
by Michael Knox
from RBS Morgans. Economic Strategy. Sept 14 2009
"Steady growth in industrial demand for sugar for use as a bio fuel has outpaced its unsteady
increases in production. Right now the stocks-to-consumption ratio for sugar is the lowest
this century. Prices have run up rapidly. Buyers have run to buy the commodity. Producers
are enjoying this great sugar rush."

Difficult year ahead for ethanol industry (journal article)
by Czarnikow Energy
from Australian Canegrower, Feb 2009
It was a difficult year for the industry, inpart due to the substantial amount of negative press directed at the sector. This has happened as a result of sustainability issues and additionally from the food versus fuel debate. As a consquence, the biofuels industry found itself in the firing line of many of its earlier greeen advocates.
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Secret Econometric Business: Watching FuelWatch and the ACCC (journal article)
by Sinclair Davidson
From Agenda, Volume 15 No 4
"This paper appraises the econometric study of Western Australia's FuelWatch scheme that the ACCC has used to advocate to the Federal Government the petrol price regulation scheme known as 'Fuel Watch'. It is argued that the ACCC's econometric analysis is fundamentally flawed."