On Tuesday, the opposition leader backed Nationals leader David Littleproud’s declaration that a future Coalition government would halt the development of renewable energy in regional Australia and scrap the nascent offshore wind industry, except off Gippsland where projects are most advanced.
But opposition frontbencher Simon Birmingham seemingly contradicted Littleproud on Tuesday, saying: “There is absolutely a place for large-scale renewables.”
The opposition is at odds over scrapping Australia’s offshore wind industry.
Both major power generators and investors in renewable energy have warned for more than a decade that policy uncertainty has hamstrung investment needed to compensate for the closure of coal-fired power stations.
Capital markets’ confidence in funding projects related to Australia’s energy transition has rallied in the past two years amid significant improvements in policy and regulatory certainty, according to the Investor Group on Climate Change, a coalition of 104 global and local investors such as AustralianSuper, Cbus, HESTA, Fidelity, BlackRock and Vanguard.
However, concerns are growing within the energy industry that Dutton’s plan to scrap the Albanese government’s 2030 climate target will unleash further uncertainty and crimp access to the capital needed to build enough replacement wind and solar farms, transmission infrastructure and batteries in time for the accelerating closures of ageing coal plants.
Dutton has said the opposition remains committed to net zero emissions by 2050 but will not reveal its interim climate targets until after the federal election, due by May next year.
On Tuesday, the Australian Energy Council said interim targets provide certainty to industry and serve as a “stepping stone” to the ultimate goal of reaching net zero emissions by 2050.
“The energy sector will continue to do most of the heavy lifting to reduce emissions between now and 2030, which will enable other sectors to achieve their decarbonisation objectives,” Barnes said.
“It’s critical that we continue to work towards reducing our emissions as quickly as is possible and affordable.”
However, he said meeting the legislated targets would still be challenging. “There is more work to be done to keep us on track,” he said.
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Earlier on Tuesday, mining magnate Andrew Forrest, who has become one of Australia’s biggest owners of renewable energy through his private Squadron Energy, told ABC Radio that Dutton’s nuclear power push would “decimate” Australia’s export-dependent economy by incurring higher import taxes from trading partners that had more ambitious climate policies.
Dutton dismissed Forrest’s remarks, arguing Australia was the only G20 nation with a ban on nuclear energy, and claiming the technology must be a vital part of the future energy mix to supplement renewable energy in periods of low wind and sun.
“Andrew Forrest, I know well. He’s a good friend and a great Australian, and he’s very heavily invested, billions of dollars into renewable energies,” Dutton said.