Checking out the impact of carbon

It started with academics in the 1980s, then made its way through governments and then into the boardrooms of big industry.

Now, with the possibility of a carbon tax looming, small and medium-sized businesses are turning to consultants and environmental engineers to figure out how it will hit their bottom line. The carbon tax is set to start in April 2007, with fuel and electricity prices increasing. The Government has said the impact of the tax on the average household will be about $4 a week.

Chris Salmon and Dwayne Pretli, who work for the New Zealand division of GHD, an international firm of engineers, architects, planners and consultants, say small and medium-sized businesses are looking at how their enterprise will cut it in the "carbon-constrained" future.

"A lot of these things to be done are good business sense anyway," said Pretli. "A lot of initial steps companies make will save them money straight off the bat."

What was once viewed with skepticism was now accepted as a genuine business case for change.

Salmon said GHD had been working for some time with clients, who were looking for more sustainable ways to do business.

Pretli said in the late '80s, sustainability and carbon emissions were "academic issues". During the past 20 years, the actual business case had become stronger. Global changes in regulations had themselves changed and created new market forces. "Now, the market is really driving this," he said.

Salmon said: "I think people are still sitting back trying to understand how it's going to work. People are thinking - 'At what point are we going to pay the carbon tax?"'

An attitude existed of "How do we get around this?" - and an audit could show if enough energy use was cut back, the tax could have no impact on a business.

Brett Longley, senior adviser for the Ministry of Energy's Climate Change group, said most businesses were capable of achieving - at low or no cost - energy savings of between 5 per cent and 7 per cent.