We want Australia to be powered 100% by renewable energy.
A price on pollution is a great first step towards a clean energy future, however we need government to fund investment in large-scale renewable energy projects to achieve the transition faster and more effectively, because a price on pollution won’t do it alone quickly enough.
This includes:
Increasing the government’s Mandatory Renewable Energy Target from 20% to 40% by 2020 to drive investment in the clean tech industry;
Using financial tools such as a national feed-in tariff and green loan guarantees to drive investment for emerging clean technology such as large scale solar and geothermal. A feed-in-tariff does this by paying renewable energy producers (businesses or individuals) a price for the renewable energy that they produce which goes back into the electricity grid;
Expanding the Solar Flagships program and ensure pre-commercial technologies receive government funding. Additionally we support demonstration plants that utilise cutting edge technologies like concentrating solar thermal and have the potential to define our energy economy in the future;
Adopting a National Energy Efficiency target and policies to put Australia at the forefront of OECD countries for efficiency improvements.
We believe we can get to 100% renewable energy in 10 years – and this report by our friends at Beyond Zero Emissions shows us how.
