Robert Pritchard, Energy Policy Institute of Australia (July 2023).
Australia has often boasted of its potential as a ‘renewable superpower’. In a new book, Australia’s former chief scientist suggested that Australia could become the world’s ‘electro-state superhero’, although this would require the scaling up of clean technologies by a factor of twenty.
The Australian government has adopted a ‘net zero’ emissions policy. It has set a 2030 emissions reduction target of 43% below 2005 levels and a 2050 target of ‘net zero’.
The government has also established a Net Zero Authority to foster the economic transformation opportunities of making the transition to ‘net zero’.
This paper postulates that all energy technologies should remain open for domestic use, that they should continue to compete with each other, and that reliability of supply should remain Australia’s all-pervasive energy policy priority. It is still much too early for Australia to claim the status of a potential ‘renewable superpower’.
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