Antinuclear

Government increasingly divided over plan to scrap renewable energy target Christopher Pyne said to have given full support to RET scheme at a private meeting, amid signs cabinet at odds over issue Oliver Milman theguardian.com, Monday 8 September 2014 The government appears to be edging away from the closure of the renewable energy target (RET) scheme, with the education minister, Christopher Pyne, reportedly giving his full support to the scheme at a private meeting.

This comes as pressure mounts on Labor to reach a “compromise” position on the issue. However, Labor appears unlikely to compromise its opposition to any change to the RET.

“The Abbott government shattered any notion of bipartisanship on the RET when it walked away from its election commitment to keep the existing 41,000 gigawatt hours by 2020 target,” said Mark Butler, Labor’s environment spokesman.

Guardian Australia understands that Pyne told a group of solar panel installers that he did not want to see any change to the RET, which requires that 41,000 gigawatt hours of Australia’s energy comes from renewable sources such as solar and wind by 2020.

Cabinet is divided over what to do with the RET, with Tony Abbott understood to favour its closure, while others, such as the environment minister, Greg Hunt, advocating that it be scaled back……

Analysis released by the Clean Energy Council on Monday showed that $15bn in investment would be lost if the RET was cut. The NSW economy would be worst off among the states, according to the analysis, losing $4bn, while Victoria would lose out on nearly $1bn. Queensland leads the way in terms of clean energy employment, with 4,600 jobs in solar power and more than 6,500 across the state’s renewable energy sector. http://www.theguardian.com/environment/2014/sep/08/government-retreats-on-renewable-energy-target-closure