CLAIMS that even small greenhouse gas targets will hurt big industry have been undermined by a government report that found basic efficiency improvements could cut national emissions and save businesses more than $700 million.
An assessment of 199 large energy users found improving efficiency could stop at least 6.4 million tonnes of carbon dioxide from being emitted - a 1.1 per cent cut in the national carbon footprint each year.
The energy savings could run 1.4 million homes for a year and give the companies an extra $736 million.
An industry group, the Energy Efficiency Council, said if the biggest companies improved efficiency by 15 per cent, national emissions would fall by nearly 5 per cent, saving billions in energy costs.
''Economic purists have been telling us that if there were $100 notes lying around, industry would have already picked them up,'' the council chief executive, Rob Murray-Leach, said. ''This report shows that companies have blind spots - sometimes you have to help them find the $100 notes.''
Though often overlooked in the policy debate, energy efficiency is widely understood to be the easiest and cheapest way to make quick emissions cuts.
The Paris-based International Energy Agency estimates that efficiency upgrades will be responsible for 65 per cent of global emissions cuts by 2020.
Mr Murray-Leach, a former adviser to the climate economist Ross Garnaut, said energy efficiency should be viewed in the same way as other business investments - you need to spend to generate a return.
''Some people say that tackling climate change is too expensive, we should wait to see what the world does first,'' he said.
'' This report shows that there is a huge amount we could do right now to cut our emissions and grow our economy.''
The government's First Opportunities report is the result of a program set up by the Howard government in 2006 that requires companies that use more than 0.5 petajoules of energy a year to find, but not necessarily implement, potential savings.
It said businesses had shown they were willing to implement the savings because of the commercial benefits.
It is an initial insight only: the report looks at 57 per cent of operations where energy savings may be possible.
The biggest savings were found to be possible in industries using large amounts of energy - metals, manufacturing and mining.
The Energy Minister, Martin Ferguson, said the report showed Australia's largest energy users had already made changes that would save them more than $500 million a year.
It had found that existing commitments by businesses would cut annual carbon dioxide emissions by nearly 4 million tonnes.
''Given that companies are still assessing their energy use, further savings will be identified,'' the report says.
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