White Paper Confirms Critical Role of RET in Reducing Emissions

The release today of the Federal Government's White Paper detailing the design of the Carbon Pollution Reduction Scheme (CPRS) confirms the critical role that renewable energy will play in Australia's transition to cleaner energy generation and emissions reductions, said Pacific Hydro.

"We commend the Rudd Government's commitment to address climate change and encourage them to now move quickly from planning to real abatement activities", said Pacific Hydro General Manager Australia/Pacific, Lane Crockett.

"The White Paper highlights the essential role of the expanded Renewable Energy Target (RET) as one of the four key elements of the Government's carbon pollution reduction strategy."

The RET is a key election commitment from the Rudd Government which will increase renewable energy to 20 per cent by 2020. With the design of the CPRS now released, there is no reason to further delay the legislative changes required to implement this policy.

"Pacific Hydro is ready to move on $2 billion of clean energy projects which will boost employment opportunities, mainly in regional areas", said Mr Crockett. "These projects will make an immediate impact on Australia's emissions from energy generation while providing significant stimulus to the economy."

The delay in the legislation has halted the industry's ability to invest in new projects and could lead to a downturn across the clean energy sector if it is not implemented soon.

"Just last week Keppel Prince Engineering who make the towers for wind energy projects raised the real prospect that up to 200 employees may lose their jobs in the near future", added Mr Crockett. "Without the RET legislation these could be the first of many job losses across the industry."

Immediately following the Government's election commitment to increase the renewable energy target, the industry responded by mobilising staff and ensuring projects were ready for investment sanction. An ongoing delay to the RET legislation will not only continue to stall investments and cause the industry to begin demobilising, it could see emissions from the stationary energy sector continue to rise leading to increased costs in delivery of the CPRS when the scheme becomes mature.

"The 20% RET can be legislated now with minimal changes to existing legislation. We call on the Prime Minister to act on the RET legislation with urgency and make it a first order of business when Parliament resumes in February", said Mr Crockett.