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Government to formalise greenskills workplace training |
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Tuesday, 01 December 2009 16:08 |
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On the 20th November the states and territories endorsed the National Green Skills Agreement.
This agreement represents a commitment by the Australian and State and Territory Governments to work together with training organisations and business to ensure that skills for sustainability are an integral part of all vocational education and training (VET).
"This is an important milestone development to responding to the critical green skills training needs that the Australian workforce requires for enabling business to transition to the low-carbon economy." said Rob Nicholls, CTI's Director Innovation & Organisational Adaptation.
Just as importantly, the agreement provides for a green skills training framework that employers and candidates can confidently rely on.
"As all VET accredited green skills training will be underpinned by the strict guidelines of the Australian Quality Framework, organisations and individuals will be able to easily identify and select courses that are best practice, deliver to the needs of business and which support competency-based and assessed outcomes' said Rob.
Green Skills is very broadly defined and it is currently difficult for people to make fully informed decisions about which training courses will not only deliver the relevant workplace skills to their staff, but also whether the training is credible, reliable, comes with some guarantee and is formally recognised.
"We are seeing an increase in the number of short courses and training programs in the discipline of carbon management being offered by private training organisations, but it's almost impossible to determine under what guidelines, standards or frameworks the training has been developed. This in itself is a risk to the participants who undertake the course as they can't be assured of the quality of the training they are receiving, including the qualifications of those delivering it. The establishment of standards is critical to the credibility of green skills training" said Rob.
The move to formalise green skills workplace training will ensure that accredited training can be quickly identified, where the seal of guarantee will be the governments VET logos and registration on the National Training Information Service.
More information about the National Green Skills Agreement can be found on the Deputy Prime Minister's media release. |
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Green skills critical to support Australia’s economic recovery & protect business |
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Written by Bruce Thomas
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Wednesday, 02 December 2009 12:07 |
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The Australian Financial Review recently published two articles that support the urgent need for Australian business to engage green skills as we move to the new economic model of 2010 and the decade beyond and the low carbon economy.
In his address to the Lowy Institute on 18 November, reported in the AFR the following day, Marius Kloppers, CEO of BHP Billiton, spoke of the need for continued skills development in order to respond to the challenges and opportunities of the coming decade. In an opinion piece published in the AFR on 17 November, Wayne Kayler-Thomson of the Victorian Employers Chamber of Commerce and Industry addressed the need for "practical assistance to the small and medium enterprise sector to become more sustainable through skills education..."[1]
Building Australian workforce capacity to manage the transition to a low-carbon economy is paramount. The future of much of our industry and the ability for the Australian economy to remain globally competitive depends on it. Importantly, such training can be easily achieved at the same time as significant cost saving programs are implemented and new projects for harvesting the many available revenue opportunities are planned.
The Federal Government and several of the state governments have introduced a number of capacity building initiatives including the Innovation Skills Program, the Jobs Fund (Local Jobs stream), energy efficiency training programs and green skilling for apprentices and workforces. The majority of these programs are directed to those sections of the labour market whose jobs will be challenged by the transition to a low carbon economy such as builders & the trades; a valid objective.
However a major challenge exists for the business and professional sector to build capacity to provide leadership across the business community. All occupations and industries will need to be engaged in the low-carbon capacity building required; up-skilling from the boardroom to the factory floor is necessary.
The boardrooms of Australia must have climate change risk and the low carbon economy on their strategic map, management must be looking at existing business operations and supporting processes and the responses of suppliers and customers, along with operational staff that have the critical role of delivering the carbon reduction strategy. Such an outcome requires they be provided with the competency-based training to enable them to develop the new skill sets.
The importance of a whole of enterprise solution is exemplified by the Linfox Group which has achieved a more than 15% reduction in CO2 emissions and a concomitant reduction in fuel costs, saving some $15 million per annum, by adoption of a variety of low carbon initiatives including "eco-driving".
The Linfox Group provides a strong incentive for all Australian businesses to join the carbon skills development initiative.
The returns to the business that takes action are obvious.
[1] "State needs a complete switch-over" Australian Financial Review, 17 November 2009, page 63 |
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Last Updated on Wednesday, 02 December 2009 15:00 |
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Bangkok meeting of UNFCCC and International Energy Agency on climate change |
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Written by Bruce Thomas
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Wednesday, 14 October 2009 17:40 |
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The Executive Director of the International Energy Agency, Nobuo Tanaka, opens the Agency’s latest report “How the energy sector can deliver on a climate agreement in Copenhagen” with some stark words “if the world continues on the basis of today’s energy policies, the climate change impacts will be severe. Energy, which accounts for two-thirds of today’s greenhouse-gas emissions, is at the heart of the problem and so it must form the core of the solution.”i
This report is a subset of the Agency’s World Energy Outlook published to support the negotiating sessions of the UNFCCC held last week in Bangkok.
The report outlines a 450 Scenario, which requires CO2 emissions related to energy generation to reduce to a trajectory which, when taking into account non-energy related emissions, stabilises concentration of all greenhouse gases at 450ppm.
Stabilising greenhouse gases at a concentration of 450ppm is the level at which average global temperature rise will be restricted to 2°C.
Parties at the Bangkok meeting were unable to reach agreement, but as noted below the UNFCCC remains confident of agreement by the CoP Meeting in Copenhagen in December. A major sticking point appears to be the US “attempt to kill the Kyoto Protocol’s content.ii
The US and other developed countries had asked the meeting to “change the text under the Kyoto Protocol from equity to equality in sharing responsibility for reducing greenhouse gas emissions”.iii
At the Closing Press Conference, UNFCCC General Secretary Yvo do Boer reported on progress. “World leaders set out a clear mandate to prevent dangerous climate change at last month's New York summit, he said. In Bangkok, their negotiators have shown rapid progress on concrete ways to implement the mandate, but are still hanging on to long-held differences.
Mr. de Boer stressed the urgency of raising ambitions and bridging the disconnect, adding that now is the time to step back from self interest and let common interest prevail.
With the next session in Barcelona only three weeks away, Mr. de Boer said he hopes negotiators will use the time to go back to those world leaders who called for a breakthrough in Copenhagen and get from them a mandate to resolve the key political issues that remain outstanding.” iv
The IEA report notes that the recent global financial and economic crisis “has had a considerable impact on the energy sector. CO2 emissions are expected to fall in 2009, which can help us achieve this 450 trajectory – but only if the right policies are put in pace promptly."v
In releasing the IEA Report, Mr Tanaka noted “we need to act urgently and now. Every year of delay adds an extra US$500 billion to the investment needed between 2010 and 2030 in the energy sector."vi
The full IEA report is available at http://www.iea.org/weo/docs/weo2009/climate_change_excerpt.pdf
The conclusion of the IEA Report in relation to the cost of delaying action should provide a strong incentive to Governments worldwide to take action. If the cost to Australia equalled our share of global emissions the cost of delaying action for Australia’s energy sector alone would exceed US$8 billion for each year of delay beyond 2010.
ihttp://www.iea.org/weo/docs/weo2009/climate_change_excerpt.pdf Foreword
iihttp://www.nationmultimedia.com/2009/10/09/national/national_30114099.php
iiihttp://www.nationmultimedia.com/2009/10/09/national/national_30114099.php
ivhttp://unfccc.int/meetings/intersessional/bangkok_09/items/4967.php
vhttp://www.iea.org/weo/docs/weo2009/climate_change_excerpt.pdf Foreword
vihttp://www.iea.org/Textbase/press/pressdetail.asp?PRESS_REL_ID=290 |
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Last Updated on Friday, 16 October 2009 22:15 |
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Science reports suggest climate change impacts will come sooner and be more severe |
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Written by Bruce Thomas
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Tuesday, 29 September 2009 14:16 |
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Two reports released in the last week suggest that the potential implications of climate change are likely to be more severe and occur sooner than previously predicted.
On Friday 24 September the UNEP released its “Climate Change Science Compendium 2009” presenting evidence that “The pace and scale of climate change may now be outstripping even the most sobering predictions of the last report of the Intergovernmental Panel of Climate Change (IPCC)”i released in 2007.
On Monday 28 September, the UK Met Office reported that if “greenhouse gas emissions continue to rise unchecked, it is likely that global warming will exceed four degrees by the end of the century”.ii
Dr Richard Betts, Head of Climate Impacts at the Met Office Hadley Centre, outlined the new research findings at “4 degrees and beyond” a conference convened at Oxford University to consider the consequences of climate change and concomitant implications for people, eco-systems and earth-systems.
Some of the climate related impacts reported by UNEP include:
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