cameron o'Reilly
Fulbright DFAT Professional Scholar
“Having now accepted the link between greenhouse gas emissions and human induced climate change, the U.S. and Australia have now taken the first step in making policy changes to reduce emissions from the stationary energy sector.”
Cameron O’Reilly has received the 2008 Fulbright Professional Australia-U.S. Alliance Studies Scholarship sponsored by the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade. Through his Fulbright Scholarship at the Center for International Energy and Environmental Policy at the University of Texas and Georgetown University, Cameron will work on a project Reducing emissions while remaining competitive from March 2009.
Cameron, who is currently the Executive Director of the Energy Retailers Association of Australia, will carry out a comparative public policy study of U.S. and Australian approaches to reducing greenhouse gas emissions.
“I will do a comparative public policy study of U.S. Federal and State approaches to reducing greenhouse gas emissions from the stationary energy sector, with a view to ascertaining new ideas on how Australia confronts this challenge, without losing our competitive position as a low cost energy country,” explains Cameron.
“As Australia debates the introduction of an emissions trading scheme to reduce greenhouse gas output, I believe my perspective and ability to contribute to the policy design process on behalf of my members will be enhanced by detailed study of U.S. policy approaches.”
“The U.S. and Australia share much in common as low energy cost countries with significant domestic sources of fossil fuels. We therefore as allies and democracies have a strong interest in cooperating to meet the challenge of climate change.”
“In making policy changes to reduce emissions from the stationary energy sector both countries need to be mindful that putting a price in carbon will lead to higher energy costs for households and businesses, something that will have implications for both social policy and economic competitiveness. This reality cannot be escaped, and underlines the importance of designing policy responses to reduce emissions at least cost to our respective economies.”
While visiting the U.S. Cameron will also look at issues to do with the nuclear energy industry which is being debated in Australia, but for which he explains we have no local reference points.
Cameron holds a Masters of Management and Public Policy from Monash University and a Bachelor of Economics from The University of Sydney. He has been a commentator on the development of Australia's energy markets since the mid 1990's and has had a number of opinion pieces published on the need for market based approaches to climate change.