It’s free to join the Victorian Chamber Community!

Sign up and receive the latest business news and updates, opportunities to network and shape Advocacy from Victoria’s largest and most influential partner.

It’s free to join the Victorian Chamber Community!

New emissions reductions guide for business

The Environment Protection Authority (EPA) Victoria has released a practical guide to help businesses of all sizes to minimise their greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions.

JUMP TO:
JUMP TO:

The new Guideline for Minimising Greenhouse Gas Emissions is designed to help businesses cut their emissions and comply with regulatory obligations.

This guideline will help businesses meet their responsibilities under the Environment Protection Act 2017 and general environmental duty (GED) and understand how to identify and assess their GHG emissions and put in place reasonably practicable controls to minimise them.

The document explains how to identify GHG emission sources, assess risks of harm from GHG emissions, identify and implement controls to minimise risks arising from GHG emissions, review controls to ensure they are effective, and view risk management examples.

The guideline helps businesses with their approach based on the scale and complexity of their operations. For example, a small restaurant could minimise risks of harm from GHG emissions by:

  • installing solar by taking advantage of a government rebate for small business
  • reducing food waste going to landfill by working with her suppliers to get smaller quantities of some fresh items with less wastage and providing excess food to a local charity
  • ensuring paper, bottles and cans are being recycled instead of going to landfill
  • regular maintenance of all cooking and kitchen appliances and HVAC (to reduce energy use) and fridges, freezers and air conditioners to ensure refrigerants are not leaking
  • replacing existing lighting with LED lighting
  • turning equipment off when not in use
  • only turning on outdoor space heaters when customers are present.

By contrast, a larger business may require more complex systems, procedures and documentation to minimise risks of harm from their GHG emissions.

The guideline has been released following a draft version for feedback earlier this year.

EPA Victoria CEO Lee Miezis said: “Importantly, while every business is expected to make progress on cutting its GHG output, the guideline does not impose a rigid set of rules. The aim is to help businesses take reasonable actions based on their individual situation.

“It all fits in with the General Environmental Duty (GED), a legal obligation under the act requiring anyone whose activities pose risks of harm to the environment or human health to understand those risks and take reasonably practicable steps to minimise them.”

The Guideline for Minimising Greenhouse Gas Emissions is available via: epa.vic.gov.au/about-epa/publications/2048

Memberships for wherever you are in business

Hard times. Good times. Crunch time. Growth time. We’re here to support you at all those pivotal times in your business life. We’ve now tailored our range of memberships to fit wherever you are in business – today and well into the future.

Memberships for wherever you are in business

Restricted Page

You are being redirected to our login page!