Although initially disappointed by their governments' decisions to delay Carbon Pollution Reduction Schemes, firms in Australia and New Zealand now see it as a chance to take a more measured approach

When the Australian Government announced in May that it would be postponing the introduction of its Carbon Pollution Reduction Scheme (CPRS) until mid-2011, lawyers were disappointed. Law firms, who had invested heavily over the past 12 months building emissions practices in anticipation of a spike in compliance advice, envisaged their investment would stagnate just when they could least afford it. Now it seems firms see an upside to the delay, particularly as a slower time frame for implementation offers lawyers the chance to provide clients with ongoing, measured advice rather than the frenetic and intensive burst of work first anticipated by the scheme's introduction. It is something Clayton Utz partner Graeme Dennis notes. "Things will be less frantic, more measured and more considered," he says. "It's a good thing, because difficult issues can be resolved well with a little consideration. The deadline to have legislation passed in May was always going to be difficult to meet, meaning that it wouldn't have had proper consideration."

Dennis also thinks that the current delay and the accompanying debate in federal parliament (the Liberal Opposition opposes parts of the legislation in its current form and is looking to delay voting until early next year) means that some of the deficiencies that existed in the Bill's original draft can be ironed out before it becomes law. In particular, he points to the "parent trap" provision, which in its current form imposes full liability on the parent operators of emission producing facilities. "It doesn't work well for determining liability for emissions trading permits. An emitter could avoid hundreds of millions of dollars worth of liabilities, because its parent company - or 51% majority stakeholder - would be held fully responsible," he says.

DLA Phillips Fox partner, Charmian Barton, also said that if and when the CPRS is passed by parliament, any disappointment with current workloads will soon evaporate. "The pushing back of the carbon pollution reduction scheme by another year, to 2011, means that potentially for us there will be less immediate work, particularly if it is not passed by parliament. But if it is, people will be looking for more guidance before it commences," she says.

Kiwi lawyers a step ahead

Across the Tasman, lawyers are facing similar uncertainty about the future of the New Zealand Emissions Trading Scheme (NZETS), which is before a parliamentary review committee. "The National Party has signalled its intention to make changes to the scheme. So while the committee will almost certainly recommend that the scheme be retained, it's also likely to recommend that certain changes be made to it," says Buddle Findlay partner Alistair Cameron. "The changes are likely to focus on smoothing-out the scheme's implementation and easing the transition toward a fully functioning emissions trading scheme."

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