Renewable energy boom set to go up in smoke

Sydney Morning Herald
Tuesday 16/12/2008 Page: 5

UNTIL yesterday the so-called "green revolution" was ready to roll, but the renewable energy industry doubts the Government's white paper will allow it to get out of first gear. The fear is that since carbon permits are limited to $25 a tonne, and many are being given away, the emissions trading scheme will simply add a little lead to the saddlebags of heavy polluters without giving enough incentive for investors to switch to emissions-free technology.

"There's no doubt the white paper is actually undermining the potential for green-collar jobs in Australia," Mark Diesendorf, the deputy director of the Institute of Environmental Studies at the University of New South Wales, said. "We've put up a message that says to investors 'stay away' "We have a huge raft of proposals for large wind farms, for baseload solar plants, we have huge potential for jobs in the energy efficiency sector, but that potential needs the right policy settings from government so businesses can start to make investments."

Among many reports produced in recent months, a study by the ACTU and the Australian Conservation Foundation found that 500,000 jobs could be created in renewable sectors of the economy by 2030. But the soft start to emissions trading, together with the modest ambitions for carbon cuts, is unlikely to create a jobs boom. "A soft start only works if it is backed with aggressive investment signals in energy efficiency and clean technology," said Matthew Warren, the chief executive of the Clean Energy Council.

The council is a peak body which aims to represent the interests of renewable energy as well as those of some polluting industries. "These [signals would] deliver the biggest emissions cuts in the first years and prepare the Australian economy for the changes to follow. "The white paper suggests the Government understands this relationship, but it hasn't yet delivered on it."

The white paper would be more likely to maintain the status quo than wean Australia off coal-fired power, said lain MacGill, the director of the Centre for Energy and Environmental Markets at the University of New South Wales. "The real winners today are clearly large emitters who appear to have successfully persuaded the Government to propose weak 2020 targets and provide them with billions of dollars of subsidies beyond even those proposed in the green paper," Dr MacGill said.