Renewable energy spending in Australia drops 70% in 2014

Nov 11, 2014 - Investment in clean energy projects in Australia slumped by 70% in the past year as investor appetite was hurt by the government’s lack of commitment to renewable energy, a new report says.

“Investment that could be coming to Australia is instead going overseas to countries that are moving to a renewables energy future,” said the co-author of the Climate Council report, Tim Flannery. He explained that the environment in the sector was shaken by the government’s plans to review the Renewable Energy Target (RET) scheme and the ongoing uncertainty over the programme's future.

When Australia launched its RET regime, the 20% renewables target by 2020 was calculated to be equal to 41,000 GWh annually. In February, the government appointed global warming skeptic Dick Warburton to review the scheme so that it corresponds to falling power demand. Last month, the country's ruling party proposed to cut the RET to around 26,000-27,000 GWh, which it calculates is the real 20% of demand. The opposition Labour Party did not accept the proposal and negotiations are still ongoing.

As a result, Australia has gone from "leader to laggard" in energy projects, the Climate Council points out in the “Lagging Behind: Australia and the Global Response to Climate Change” report. Meanwhile, it estimates that China become the world leader in terms of clean energy spending and new installations as it added more renewable energy capacity than fossil fuels in 2013. Between 2006 and 2010, the country retired 77 GW of coal-fired power plants and plans to do the same with another 20 GW of facilities by 2015.

Across the ocean, the US ranked second when it comes to new renewable energy capacity additions. In 2013, renewables accounted for 12.9% of the country’s total power output, which puts it on track to lower carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions by 17% under 2005 levels by 2020.

The situation is quite different in Australia, however, as the country has become the 15th largest emitter of CO2 emissions. “Australia is lagging behind the rest of the world on tackling climate change,” Flannery said. The country’s current goal is to cut greenhouse gas emissions by 5% by 2020.

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