The chairman of the Australian Renewable Energy Agency (ARENA), Martijn Wilder, has urged Australia to follow the example of New Zealand and a growing number of European nations and design a long-term green stimulus package that both rebuilds the economy and cuts emissions.
“New Zealand policymakers have taken the view that since they are borrowing money for stimulus from future generations the manner in which it is spent has to serve those generations,” he said.
So far 17 European Union nations have signed on to a European Green Deal, agreeing to shape their recovery around policies designed to speed up their efforts to reach net-zero emissions.
A letter outlining the plan describes it as, “a new growth strategy that aims to transform the EU into a fair and prosperous society, with a modern, resource-efficient and competitive economy where there are no net emissions of greenhouse gases in 2050 and where economic growth is decoupled from resource use.”
Melbourne’s The Age newspaper reports that asked if the conservative Liberal-National government’s response to the coronavirus crisis presented it with an opening to develop a more ambitious emissions reduction strategy, Energy Minister Angus Taylor last week said: “I think the opening is that we’re seeing low gas prices. I think that’s the thing that has really changed.
“That makes a big difference. Countries that have access to low gas prices are able to reduce their emissions faster.”
The Age reports he said that Australia had seen the fastest rates of investment in renewables in the world in recent years, including in 2019.
“The facts on this are incontrovertible. And we are a world leader in investment in renewables, particularly solar, a combination of household solar and utility solar.”
Some renewable energy experts were dismayed by the minister’s endorsement of gas as crucial to the stimulus.
Bruce Robertson, an economist specialising in gas financing with the Institute for Energy Economics and Financial Analysis (IEEFA) said oil and gas prices had collapsed around the world and Australia could not produce it as cheaply as other suppliers.
“You can’t build a stimulus on it because it’s uneconomic.
“Producers can’t keep on losing money on it,” he said.
“Governments are not meant to pick winners, but they are certainly not meant to back losers.”
Mr Robertson said new research suggested that depending on the amount of methane that escaped during gas extraction, it was often as bad or worse for the climate than coal.
The Age reports Mr Wilder, who was founding Director of the Clean Energy Finance Corporation and is chair of the New South Wales Climate Change Council, said that economies that were rebuilt as sustainable would have a competitive advantage in future and that Australia risked being left behind if it did not follow suit.
“This is public money. It needs to be spent serving the public good,” said Mr Wilder.
He said he agreed with Mr Taylor that gas would play a role as an energy source during the transition to a decarbonised economy, but mostly to provide surges of energy during moments of peak demand.
Mr Wilder suggested that Australia should also consider overhauling the tax and regulatory frameworks to support renewable energy and industry.
He said that by backing the widespread uptake of electric vehicles, the nation could reduce its dependency on foreign energy and the need for a strategic oil reserve.
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One Response
It Will never happen as long as we have governments run by the revolving door of the fossil fuel industry and concentrated media controlling the the government. Time for private sector to take control and go alone to go to renewable energy.