The future of voluntary action by Australians to cut carbon pollution is potentially under threat from official government climate change policy, an alliance of business and environment groups has warned.

A communiqué signed by the Total Environment Centre (TEC) and more than a dozen businesses was released calling on the Federal Government to provide certainty for consumers by ensuring that voluntary actions, like purchasing offsets, effectively reduce emissions beyond government compliance targets.

TEC executive director Jeff Angel said: “We are calling on the Federal Government to be proactive in ensuring that Australia retains a strong, high-quality and innovative voluntary carbon sector. The communiqué makes constructive suggestions on how to work towards achieving this.”

“This needs to be a specific objective of the design and implementation of the Carbon Pollution Reduction Scheme, which is scheduled to be legislated in 2009 and implemented in 2010 to create an national compliance carbon market."

Climate Friendly Carbon strategy manager, Laura Eadie said: “While critically important, the government’s mandatory emissions scheme will involve only the top 1,000 companies in Australia.