Australian companies need to batten down the hatches in preparation for a Carbon Pollution Reduction Scheme (CPRS), the firm said, and Australian firms had a responsibility to help clients understand the changes.

With this in mind, the firm hired emissions trading expert Liz Bossley to deliver a breakfast series to its clients.

“Australian companies have the luxury of learning from the schemes already in place around the world. While the exact program to be implemented in Australia is being debated, the establishment of a scheme is inevitable and the time to prepare is now,” she said at the talks presented in Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane.

As real deadlines approach, companies better understand the implications a carbon pollution reduction scheme may have on their business, Ashley Watson, Head of Piper Alderman’s National Climate Change Group, told The New Lawyer.

Failing to understand the implications of the carbon scheme if it comes into force in Australia could see clients making serious errors in deals within the carbon market or being manipulated, Watson said.

“The time frame of this is becoming so extended, the real challenge is keeping everyone informed over such a long time,” he said.