As a major retailer, generator and investor in the Australian energy market, TRUenergy faces a more difficult challenge than most to reduce its greenhouse emissions.

In July, the company launched an aggressive climate change strategy, in a move designed to capitalise on new market opportunities and manage climate change risks. Following the introduction of an effective, national emissions scheme, TRUenergy will introduce an immediate cap on carbon intensity, with further reductions delivered at progressive milestones, including 2010, 2020, 2035 before achieving their end goal of a 60 per cent reduction in emissions by 2050. TRUenergy has also announced that it will not be building any new greenfield power stations using traditional coal-fired technology.

This comprehensive strategy certainly signals a major change in attitude in the energy industry. It’s clear that in Australia, the past 18 months have seen a marked change in public attitudes towards climate issues, and as Richard says, it’s up to the industry now to really capitalise on this momentum.

“It was very apparent to us last year that we could not sit on the sidelines while this great debate was raging on,” he said.

“Our various stakeholders wanted us to play a part in the climate change debate, and to articulate where we stood and what we represented.

“So we invested a lot of time developing our Climate Change Strategy, including fundamental analysis of our business and the market in which we operate. As a result, we have devised a climate change strategy which sets some pretty stringent, aggressive short, medium and long term targets to reduce our carbon emissions.”

Richard says the reasons for developing and implementing the strategy were clear.

“If you look at us and say ‘Why are you doing this?’ our response would be that there is now global acceptance of climate change and with this has come a fundamental shift in corporate, community and government thinking. If you look at where the government is now, they have moved 180 degrees from where they were 12 months ago. So you either get in the tent and talk about these issues and be a part of the solution, or you wait for someone to impose the solution upon you.

“And we prefer to be a part of the climate change debate and one of the leading businesses working towards a solution.”

The aggressive targets outlined by TRUenergy’s strategy mean steps need to be taken immediately to achieve these targets. Construction is advancing on the company’s Tallawarra power station, a highly efficient combined cycle gas-fired plant in New South Wales, which will deliver significant inroads into TRUenergy’s targets to lower emissions from generation in the short term.

“I think gas-fired generation will be a bridging technology between what we have now and large-scale renewable and clean energy technology, which is expensive initially but will progressively become more competitive as clean energy target policy measures combined with an emissions trading scheme accelerate its deployment,” said Richard.

TRUenergy currently invests in renewable energy through wind farm power purchase agreements and its involvement with wind energy company Roaring Forties.

“We’re also expecting over the next few months to announce some exciting new investment in renewables,” Richard says.

Going green

Richard says that TRUenergy has had a good response to its green energy initiatives, more than doubling the number of green energy customers in the past nine months alone. The key has been offering a variety of green energy options to customers to capture the appetite and the price tolerance point of different customers.

“If you offer a suite of different incentives then people respond well to that. What I’ve found is most people want to do something to help, but the vast majority want to have green energy but aren’t prepared to pay a very high cost, so you’ve got to price according to your market.”

Richard acknowledges that getting consumers to take the step and commit to paying extra for green energy is a challenge faced by the industry.

“It is a challenge, because people have traditionally just looked at electricity as a price issue, they expect it to be there, it’s a very low involvement product. But we also need to do a lot more in terms of bringing about behavioural changes amongst customers - green energy doesn’t necessarily have to cost a substantial premium, but it will cost you more if you don’t improve your usage habits.”

Richard believes more should be done in terms of helping consumers learn how to be more efficient in how they use energy. He offered the example of his young children, who are very aware of not wasting water – yet were not as aware of good habits regarding electricity consumption and wastage.

“That’s what we have to do as a company, make people aware of their energy use and help improve their energy efficiency. But I also think from a government point of view there could be more investment into awareness and education - the added benefit is that this will also help people come to terms with paying more for green energy.”

Naturally, educating TRUenergy staff about efficient energy use goes hand-in-hand with educating customers.

Two thirds of the company’s head office in Melbourne uses green power. In the past year alone, upgrades to TRUenergy’s Yallourn power station have delivered greenhouse gas reductions greater than 200,000 tonnes of C02, equal to planting nearly 300,000 trees.

Dual roles

Richard also spoke about the synergies of his role as TRUenergy Managing Director and Roaring Forties Chairman, noting that the dual roles were particularly complementary from a government policy perspective.

“When I have my renewable hat on with Roaring Forties, it is very helpful to also have the credibility of being a major retailer. In discussions on renewable energy development, the government is understandably sensitive to the needs of different stakeholder groups - so when they get to deal with someone who also represents a major retailer I think they feel a lot more comfortable discussing renewables, than perhaps if they were dealing with a particular focus group on renewables.”

When asked what the key drivers leading Australia towards a lower emissions future would be, Richard was quick to highlight an emissions trading scheme and clean energy targets as being the necessary complementary measures to achieving a longer term solution towards clean generation.

He also stressed the importance of behavioural change. “Reducing the impacts of climate change will not be achieved just by business and it will not be achieved just by government - business, government and consumers all have to act together.

“We’re doing our bit from a business perspective by setting ourselves emissions reduction targets, government is doing its bit in terms of clean energy targets and an emissions trading scheme, but consumers will need to change their behaviour.

“We can help, and the government can help, but you can’t just sit there and say ‘Isn’t that awful?’ and then leave the television on and turn on every light in the house.”

It’s not all hard work

Outside of work Richard enjoys spending time with his young family, having three children, two seven year olds and a four year old. Prior to arriving in Australia Richard lived in Hong Kong for 15 years and is originally from the UK. Despite, or perhaps due to, his many years living abroad, Richard remains a keen traveller and is always looking to his next adventure.

He added with a smile, “I’ve also got the standard interests of a corporate CEO: food and wine, and of course sport. You have to be interested in those three things to be a CEO in Australia!”

Outside of the office Richard is personally very passionate about the issues associated with climate change, and notes that this has probably been a major factor in TRUenergy’s initiatives to reduce its carbon intensity.

“I think anyone who has a young family has to be interested in and should be passionate about this issue,” notes Richard.

This is obviously a sentiment shared by a growing number of Australians – the challenge for Richard, TRUenergy and others in the industry will be capitalising on this interest for the most beneficial outcome possible.

“We prefer to be a part of the climate change debate and one of the leading businesses working towards a solution.”