Home topics small-business-resources growth-import-export Growth | Import | Export Managing Growth | Import | Export Climate change and the export environment Linda Vergnani December 10, 2008 Ever since Prime Minister Kevin Rudd signed the Kyoto Protocol and appointed a Minister for Climate Change , the issue of climate change has been a hot topic for business . So, what is climate change and how will it affect exporters ? Imagine Australia’s oldest wine growing regions too hot to produce grapes, dwindling agricultural exports and prime tourist attractions like the Great Barrier Reef crumbling and you get an inkling of the dramatic impact climate change could have on this country and its economy. Professor Ross Garnaut, who was commissioned by the Australian government to review the economic impact of climate change and recommend policy options, notes that climate change will be “associated with a decline in international demand for Australia’s mineral and energy resources and agricultural products”. In The Garnaut Climate Change Review he says climate change will affect the supply of imports to Australia and demand for Australia’s exports and, consequently, Australia’s terms of trade: “The Review’s modelling indicates that Australia’s terms of trade are affected much more adversely than any other developed country by climate change.” So what is climate change and why is the prognosis so grim? The United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change distinguishes between ‘climate variability’, which is a natural fluctuation of the climate, and ‘climate change’, caused by people. It defines climate change as