27 May 2015, Renew Economy, Garnaut: Cost of stranded assets already bigger than cost of climate action. This is one carbon budget that Australia has already blown. Economist and climate change advisor Professor Ross Garnaut has delivered a withering critique of Australia’s economic policies and investment patterns, saying the cost of misguided over-investment in the recent mining boom would likely outweigh the cost of climate action over the next few decades. Read More here See Prof. Ross Garnaut’s full submission here
Category Archives: Australian Response
Federal Budget 2015 – environment experts react: Environmental and energy issues did not feature heavily in the Budget, although there was a A$400 million total package of assistance for drought-stricken farmers (particularly relevant in the week that the Bureau of Meteorology called an El Niño), as well as an extra A$100 million in funding for the Reef Trust, aimed at safeguarding the Great Barrier Reef. Below, our experts react to the budget’s environmental and energy measures. Read More here
Budget brief: what’s in the budget on climate change and renewables? Not much was announced in last night’s budget on climate change and renewable energy. However, a total of A$400 million was announced for drought assistance and tax breaks for farmers to implement water infrastructure, which could become increasingly necessary given we are seeing possibly the biggest El Niño – a phenomenon often linked to drought in Australia – since 1997-98. Although not badged as such, this could be considered as climate-related finance to deal with increasingly extreme drought, and flood, climatic conditions in Australia. ….Unfortunately, the rest of the budget doesn’t show much change in the current rate of climate change investment. Read More here
How will the reduced Renewable Energy Target affect investment? After months of uncertainty over the future level of Australia’s Renewable Energy Target (RET), the federal government and opposition have reached a compromise agreement to scale back the target. The deal will see the RET wound back to 33,000 gigawatt hours of renewable energy by 2020, down from its previous level of 41,000 GWh. The government had earlier sought a target of around 27,000 GWh, but the new compromise was reached after the Labor opposition and the renewables industry each indicated they would be willing to agree on a level in the low-30,000s to end the stalemate. Read More here