Carbon concern drags on events

Australia is already missing out on major events and business conferences because of growing concerns about the climate implications of the long-haul travel required to get here, a renewable fuels summit has heard.

Tourism and Transport Forum chief executive Margy Osmond made the startling claim to highlight the need for action on a sustainable aviation fuel sector.

Ms Osmond said its own research showed 82 per cent of Australians believed it was important to reduce carbon emissions produced by air travel.

Sustainable aviation fuel, made from agricultural waste and feedstock, was considered the most practical way to slash emissions, but Australia produces none of the biofuel.

“Australia is a long-haul destination. We will never be anything but a long-haul destination, and we don’t have transport opportunities like high-speed rail like Europe. It won’t be the case here,” Ms Osmond told the Renewable Fuels conference in Canberra on Tuesday.

“So, aviation will continue to be critical, which is why we as an industry are fixated on the need for a SAF industry here in Australia.”

Ms Osmond warned that without SAF, Australia would see fewer events like the recent Taylor Swift concerts that provided an enormous windfall for hotels and airlines.

Business conferences, worth around $17bn to the economy, were even more at risk because of the carbon targets set by large companies.

“Increasingly what happens now when you go overseas to bid for one of these global conferences to come to Australia, and it’s big business, Australia has to justify our bid because we are long haul and for many businesses, they don’t want to take part in a conference that is going to do damage to their own carbon targets, nor do they want to send any delegates to a conference that is that far away,” Ms Osmond said. “So we are already seeing really significant impacts on our attractiveness as a business events destination in the early stages of this.”