Carbon tax win unleashes IT hounds

Beverley Head
Wednesday, 12 October 2011 17:26

Business IT - Technology

The passage of the Government's carbon tax bills through the lower house could be enough to unleash a fresh torrent of green IT initiatives and also place additional demands on the public service to urgently develop the information systems needed to administer and monitor the new regime.

A report released last month by Fujitsu found that green IT had gone off the boil in Australia over the last 12 months as CIOs focussed their efforts elsewhere. The impost of a carbon tax may spice the issue up for CIOs, especially those in large organisations with hefty power bills associated with their ICT usage.

According to Fujitsu although only a very small proportion of CIOs ever see, let alone pay for their electricity bills, up to 75 per cent of the big banks' and government's electricity bills could be attributed to their ICT use. With electricity costs set to soar as a result of the carbon tax, CIOs might find themselves encouraged to take a fresh look at green IT initiatives.

Meanwhile the public sector will find itself in a race to set up the systems to allow the carbon tax regime to be implemented.

According to industry analyst Ovum there are significant IT opportunities as a result - and while research director Kevin Noonan said it didn't represent a bonanza in terms of new business, it might represent a 'shot in the arm' for public sector IT which is anticipating a pretty fierce budget as the Government continues with its ambitions to return the budget to surplus.

In a media release issued shortly after the carbon tax bills passed the lower house, by a slim margin of 74 to 72, Ovum research director Kevin Noonan noted that; 'This is not just a tax. There are new industry assistance programs to be designed and implemented and a new regulatory environment to be delivered. The government has no room for slip-ups and will need to be laser focused on every detail.'

Although the bills have yet to pass the Senate, support from the Greens is expected to allow this, with the carbon tax implemented in mid-2012. Should the Government survive the next election it may also continue with its push for a full blown emissions trading regime, requiring additional information systems to be developed.