Following the Copenhagen Climate Change Conference taking place in December 2009, the Australian High Commissioner, Mr Mark Sawers, has called on Anita Roper, the Chief Executive Officer of Sustainability Victoria, who is on a visit to Brunei, to get local educational institutions and government sectors involved in effective practical approaches on the implementation of sustainable principles across the government, business and wider community.

Anita Roper delivered a keynote address on 'How Green Business Can Be Good Businesses' during the AsiaInc Forum's National Environment Conference held yesterday.

During a press conference with Mr Mark Sawers and Ms Roper, they discussed the approaches made by the Australian government in reducing greenhouse gas emissions.

Also in discussion were areas that can be explored where further cooperation can be pursued between Australia and Brunei as well as encouraging Brunei to be actively involved in giving proposals during the Copenhagen Climate Change Conference.

Australia has launched major policies in response to climate change to target reduction in gas emission in which three pillars have underpinned the Australian Government ambitious approach to transforming Australia into a low-carbon economy.

First is the ambitious target to cut Australia's greenhouse gas emission by 25 per cent on 2000 levels by 2020 if the global agreement emerging at Copenhagen is enough to achieve 450 parts per million stabilisation goal by five per cent by 2020.

Second is the establishment of the Carbon Pollution Scheme, a 'cap and trade' emissions trading system which once implemented will cover 75 per cent of Australia's emissions and become one of the most comprehensive greenhouse gas emissions trading systems in the world.

The third includes a range of measures to start investment in low carbon technologies such as the $4.5 billion Clean Energy Initiative, incorporating the Solar Flagships Programme to build the largest solar energy project in the world, Renewables Australia, a new research body to support leading-edge technology and the Carbon Capture and Storage (CCS) Flagships programme, providing A$2 billion investment in industrial-scale CCS projects.

Australia will also be hosting the Global Carbon Capture and Storage Institute dedicated to international research into CCS technologies and the government has also adopted a National Strategy on Energy Efficiency and a suite of energy efficient measures to lower energy use and carbon pollution in homes, communities, businesses and industry.

In the case of developing countries, and countries like Brunei Darussalam, Australia seeks a commitment to at least slow down the emissions growth rather than absolute reductions in the period to 2020. During her discussions with UBD students, Ms Roper outlined a number of policy initiatives and projects that governments can use to implement environmentally sustainable practices more effectively.

"There are three messages in which we build our actions around in Sustainability Victoria. The first is the integration of sustainability in decision-making processes, second is the relevance to the business or educational institution and there must be partnerships where we work with the business community for new projects."

Anita Roper also said that people need to change their mindset or behaviour change in implementing 'green' steps to reduce energy use at homes or even the heavy use of transportation which evidently causes increases in gas emissions.

"Today's discussions (in UBD) were a very useful exercise, and hopefully they have laid the foundation for ongoing interchange between Australia and Brunei on climate and other environmental issues," Mark Sawers said.

Ms Ropers also called on the Brunei people to start taking 'green' action in energy conservation and reduce carbon emissions. People can start by doing the simplest things such as switching off appliances when not using them, use of public transportation, recycle household waste and so on.

By Farah Ahmadnawi