Antinuclear

Abbott govt policies send renewable energy investors overseas

Clean energy investors abandon Australia, head overseas,REneweconomy, By Giles Parkinson on 10 March 2014 Clean energy and low-carbon investors are abandoning Australia as the new Federal government, and its conservative colleagues at state level, turn their interests and policies away from renewables and long-term abatement incentives.

Several key players in the clean energy finance industry have told the Senate hearings into the proposed Direct Action policy that investors are looking to Europe, the US and some South American countries to find low-carbon opportunities.

“My members are looking at the United Kingdom, Ireland, the United States, France and some South American countries as having more stable investment environments for low-carbon opportunities,” said Nathan Fabian, the head of the Investor Group on Climate Change.

“Direct action is not an investment grade policy,” he said, noting that investors viewed it more like a short-term grants scheme. Banks were likely to take a similar view.

He also proposed review of the RET “appears to be another very clear signal that Australia will not be a market for low-carbon investing for the next few years.”

Tim Buckley, a former Citigroup analyst, funds manager, and now with the US-based Institute for Energy Economics and Financial Analysis, said the Australian clean energy industry is regressing because of the lack of clarity on policy……….

Australia was currently missing out on hundreds of billions of dollars that being invested every year in renewables, in energy efficiency and in development of these new technologies, and the hundreds of thousands of jobs being created in China, in Germany and in America.

Players in the renewables industry say the sector is facing its biggest crisis in a decade,……….http://reneweconomy.com.au/2014/clean-energy-investors-abandon-australia-head-overseas-38631

March 10, 2014 - Posted by Christina Macpherson | Uncategorized