GE, Siemens, Vestas Back Call for Australia to Introduce Price on Carbon

Australia must introduce a price on carbon to give businesses the certainty needed to invest in clean energy and to create jobs, 20 companies including General Electric Co., Siemens AG and Vestas Wind Systems A/S said.

A price on carbon is crucial to Australia meeting its target of cutting emissions by 5 percent from 2000 levels by the end of the decade, member companies of the Clean Energy Council said in an open letter to the country’s major political parties.

“Business accepts the need to act on climate change and wants certainty to invest in clean energy and create jobs,” the council said in its letter. The price on carbon should be implemented “as soon as possible.”

The letter was supported by companies such as AGL Energy Ltd., Australia’s largest electricity and gas retailer, CLP Holdings Ltd.’s TRUenergy Pty, GE, Siemens and Vestas, the world’s largest wind-turbine maker. The council has more than 350 members.

Neither the Labor Party-led government of Prime Minister Julia Gillard nor Tony Abbott’s Liberal-National coalition won a majority in Australia’s Aug. 21 election. The two sides are negotiating with independent lawmakers to determine who will form the next government.

Gillard this week won the support of the Australian Greens Party in exchange for setting up a climate-change committee that would set a penalty for carbon emissions. Abbott opposes imposing a price on carbon.

To contact the reporter on this story: John Viljoen in Sydney at jviljoen@bloomberg.net

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