No longer the domain of big business or specific industries, the need to have a plan and to understand what this means to your business became imperative. This bill commits Australia to reduce our emissions by 43 per cent by 2030 and to be net-zero by 2050.

Fortunately, there is a carrot accompanying this stick. On the subject of rising costs affecting business, escalating energy prices made the top five concerns across every sector in our June Quarter Business SA William Buck Survey of Business Expectations.

Committing to renewable energy generation is critical to tackling Australia’s rising energy costs. As renewable energy sources like solar and wind power do not produce carbon emissions as part of the electricity generation process, they are a crucial platform in targeting net-zero.

CSIRO and AEMO’s GenCost 2021-22 report confirmed that wind and solar are the cheapest source of electricity generation and storage in Australia, while here in South Australia, we are one of the few places in the world able to meet its total energy demands using renewable energy. So we are well placed to capitalise on this transition.

Unfortunately, we still have a way to go before Australia’s energy prices are impacted favourably.

Our policy team here at Business SA has been closely monitoring this situation, and our Energy, Water and Sustainability Reference Group expressed concern that there are no short-term fixes to high energy costs and that prices are unlikely to come down in the next 12 months as inflationary pressures take hold.

As a former business operator, I understand how daunting it can be to plan for net-zero. What to measure and how to go about it are fundamental questions that need answering, but for many, it is a simple case of “where do I start?”.

Increasingly, consumers are expecting businesses to make these net-zero pledges. An Australian Financial Review (2021) survey found that among Australians who knew a lot or little about the term ‘net-zero’, 56 per cent said they would stop using a business if they discovered the business was not acting sustainably.

Exporters in the food and wine sectors have had sustainability demands placed on them for many years by major international retailers. They are well versed in meeting these criteria which have gone from being a “nice to have” to a condition of entry.

Our conversation with members here at the South Australian Chamber of Commerce and Industry is no longer an ideological one around taking climate action. At its core, the pathway to net-zero is about resource efficiency, doing more with less and embedding innovation across all aspects of the business.

If your business needs guidance in starting the move, Business SA has a few places left in our eight-week net-zero education and coaching program available through the generous funding of Green Industries SA. For more information, please visit www.business-sa.com/netzero