Lack of Political Commitment to Renewable Energy

Australia can minimise its carbon emissions and uncover new economic opportunities by scaling up renewable energy but the country’s potential to do so is wasted by a lack of political commitment to the issue.

Kane Thornton, chief executive of industry association of the Clean Energy Council (CEC) said that at present, there is about $8 billion worth of renewable energy projects under construction or in planning stages.

The investments show that Australia is in the midst of an energy revolution, but 2020 looms large as it is the date of the country’s Renewable Energy Target (RET).

The RET has set a goal of 33,000 gigawatt-hours of large-scale renewable energy capacity by the year 2020, which amounts to about 23.5% of total electricity generation in the country. The government has put measures in place to make sure this target is met by investors and electricity retailers, however, political uncertainty threatens the opportunity of reaching the RET in time.

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