Observer O N E 2 W AT C H TExT: HildA d’sOuzA
Oz Carbon Trading It has been an uphill struggle, but Australian Prime Minister Julia Gillard’s Clean Energy Futures plan is set to become law on July 2012, setting a cost of A$23 ($23.80) on each metric tonne of greenhouse-gas emissions linked to climate change. The carbon levy is fixed until 2015, when Australia begins a so-called cap-and-trade system to let the market set the price as emitters buy and sell permits. Australia’s emissions market is forecast to be as large as the one planned in California and the second biggest after Europe’s.
Virginia M Rometty
Miners, energy producers, utilities and others bound by the new law also have the option of importing emissions credits from lessdeveloped countries via the United Nations’ Clean Development Mechanism. UN offset, known as Certified Emission Reductions,
International Business Machines Corporation (IBM), the
have been trading in the US$9 range on the ICE Futures Europe
world’s largest computer-service provider, has selected its
exchange in London. That’s less than half of Australia’s fixed
senior vice president, Virginia M Rometty, as its new chief
price in 2012. That means Australian companies could get a good
executive officer effective from 2 January. Rometty, 54, will
buy if they are willing to move early.
become the first female chief executive to lead the New
Australia, which burns coal to produce about 80 per cent of its
York-based company in its 100-year history. She will replace
electricity, voted to put a price on carbon to help the country cut
Samuel Palmisano who will continue as chairman from early
emissions by five per cent as of 2020.
next year. Rometty, a graduate from Northwestern University with a degree in computer science, joined IBM in 1981 as systems engineer and steadily progressed to the top of IBM Global Services. Serving as the division’s strategy leader in 2003, she oversaw the successful integration of PriceWaterhouseCoopers Consulting after IBM bought the consulting firm for $3.5 billion. As senior vice president and group executive for sales, marketing and strategy in 2009, she spearheaded the company’s push into emerging markets such as China, India and Brazil. In this position she was responsible for IBM’s worldwide results, which exceeded $99 billion in 2010 and drove the company’s shares to the highest level since it went public in 1915. IBM’s five-year plan, which was initiated by the outgoing Palmisano, aims to enhance revenues by $20 billion by expanding in markets such as cloud computing and analytics. This is likely to flow smoothly with Rometty as chief and working closely with Palmisano, as she’s well versed in strategy and her experience in sales, service and acquisition is invaluable.
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