Carbon scheme not the answer to emissions reduction

21 March 2013
| By Staff |
image
image image
expand image

Europe's carbon trading scheme is not a successful model for Australian Government to implement, Andreas Huebner, senior managing director for Lazard in Germany has told an audience at the Conference of Major Superannuation Funds 2013.

Huebner said that while he believed something should be done to reduce carbon emissions, Europe's carbon trading scheme had not proven its worth.

Progress required an attitudinal shift in how energy was created, used and distributed and not "charging people for crazy charges or getting people to generate energy which is useless", he said.

Germany had 30 per cent of the world's solar panels, Huebner noted, despite its reputation as a less-than-sunny geographical location.

He said Europe had ruined its pension system.

"You should defend yours because we are jealous that you have it … and you should do everything you possibly can to not let politicians destroy it," he said.

George Sigular, managing director and founding partner of Sigular Guff (USA), said that while America's shift to natural gas was not a solution, it was happening rapidly and would reduce the use of carbon.

"Every man, woman and child in the United States right now uses 35 pounds of coal a day, but that number's going down," he said.

Read more about:

AUTHOR

Recommended for you

sub-bgsidebar subscription

Never miss the latest developments in Super Review! Anytime, Anywhere!

Grant Banner

From my perspective, 40- 50% of people are likely going to be deeply unhappy about how long they actually live. ...

1 year 6 months ago
Kevin Gorman

Super director remuneration ...

1 year 6 months ago
Anthony Asher

No doubt true, but most of it is still because over 45’s have been upgrading their houses with 30 year mortgages. Money ...

1 year 6 months ago

The profit-to-member super fund’s MySuper default option has returned 9.85 per cent for the financial year 2024–25....

2 hours ago

Colonial First State (CFS) has announced solid double-digit returns for its MySuper balanced and growth equivalent funds during the financial year. ...

2 hours ago

The super fund’s Future Saver High Growth option delivered an 11.9 per cent return for the financial year 2024–25, on the back of a diversified portfolio and actively man...

21 hours ago

TOP PERFORMING FUNDS

ACS FIXED INT - AUSTRALIA/GLOBAL BOND
Fund name
3y(%)pa
1
DomaCom DFS Mortgage
92.15 3 y p.a(%)
3