If Australia’s renewable energy target was changed to 50% by the year 2030, 28,000 jobs will be created as stated in the report by the Climate Council according to a report by ABC News.
CEO Amanda McKenzie said that the report focused at economic modelling and compared the nation’s present trend of 34% renewable energy by the year 2030, to a future where 50% of the country’s energy are from renewable sources. This is the same in every state, rural and regional areas of the country.
The modelling was made by independent analyst Ernst and Young and indicated that many people in the coal industry jobs can have re-trainings and re-deployed. Ms McKenzie said Australia is one the sunniest and windiest country in the world so there are lots of opportunities for renewable energy. But for communities like the Latrobe Valley in Victoria and Hunter Valley in New South Wales, they need to make sure that the transition from coal to renewable energy is well planned and there is a clear repurposing of roles in the said areas. She also added that ensuring the policy setting was right on track and important.
One example for rooftop solar PVs, there are already existing today were people live in the present. There’s also jobs in regional and rural Australia with large-scale renewable energy which can send construction, operation and maintenance of the solar plants for years to come.
Ken Thornton of the Clean Energy Council said that decline in investments in the renewable sector is contributing to job loss. He said that the couple of years have been hard for the renewable energy industry, but a positive shift in attitude towards renewable energy is getting momentum and lots of the momentum is coming back to the sector.
The local community of Port Augusta, South Australia, made the move to renewable energy to save its future, after the closure of the coal plant, the community was left devastated and with it 150 jobs were lost. Daniel Spencer of the Repower Port Augusta Campaign, stated that Port Augusta’s campaign can be replicated across the country.
Mr Spence also said that when governments truly take action and set more ambitious targets, there will be lots of jobs created.
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