Labor will not agree with Abbott on changing Renewable Energy Target

Labor rejects Tony Abbott’s renewable energy olive branch September 8, 2014 Peter Hannam Environment Editor, The Sydney Morning Herald Hopes of a bipartisan accord to break an impasse over the renewable energy target have dimmed, with Labor saying it won’t be a party to a broken election promise by the government.

The stance comes as a new report showed Australia leading the world over the past two years in achieving economic growth while shrinking greenhouse gas emissions – a standing now at risk without a price on carbon and uncertainty all but halting new investment in large-scale renewable energy.

Mark Butler, Labor’s climate change spokesman, said the government had reneged on its promise to leave the renewable energy target unchanged.

“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-hour] by 2020 target,” Mr Butler said………

Popular support for renewables, particularly rooftop solar, has made any retreat on renewables politically risky, while the Palmer United Party has vowed to block any changes until after the next election.

Industry supporters also point to the Warburton review’s own findings that consumers will be better off under the current setting from about 2020. They also highlight the potential to further cut carbon emissions from the electricity sector – a source of one-third of Australia’s total – while also attracting $15 billion in investment by the decade’s end….

A freeze in renewable energy would also undermine Australia’s efforts to reduce the carbon-intensity of the economy.

A new report by PricewaterhouseCoopers named Australia as the world’s “unexpected champion”, leading efforts for a second year running to cut emissions even as the economy expanded.

Australia managed a 7.2 per cent cut in the amount of carbon-dioxide emissions per dollar of economic activity in 2013, compared with a global cut of 1.2 per cent, according to PwC’s Low Carbon Economy Index.

Last year Australia was the only country to exceed the estimated 6.2 per cent cut in carbon intensity needed each year globally until 2100 if the world is to keep global warming to within the 2 degrees most nations have agreed to, PwC said.