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Time to legislate certainty for clean energy investment

The clean energy industry has today called for the Australian Parliament to move beyond cheap political stunts and end a lost decade of climate wars by legislating the new Australian Government’s revised emissions reduction target of 43 per cent by 2030.

The Clean Energy Council welcomed the government’s commitment to reducing emissions by 43 per cent by 2030. Legislating this target will help deliver investment and action that will build momentum for Australia to adopt even higher abatement targets beyond 2030.

“The last decade was plagued by tired games and politics that stalled action on climate change and undermined investor confidence in new clean energy generation,” said Clean Energy Council Chief Executive Kane Thornton.

“The Australian clean energy industry has a strong track record of over-achieving targets set by state and federal governments over the past decade. But targets really do matter.

“Rather than having protracted debates about ambition, we should lock in the current target and give investors the confidence to get on with delivering the energy infrastructure necessary for Australia to become a global clean energy superpower,” Thornton said.

The current energy and gas crisis has been caused by an over-reliance on expensive gas and ageing coal. The answer is to accelerate the transition to renewable energy. New renewables are cheaper than coal and gas, even when storage and necessary transmission to plug into the grid are considered.

That’s good for the environment, good for economic development and great for the hip pocket of households and businesses.

The time is now for strong climate action that will also deliver lower power prices and accelerate Australia’s transition away from coal and gas. We can’t be global leaders and realise our chance to be a renewable energy superpower if we continue to weaponise climate policy.