The coal power sector and industry allies are lobbying the government to ditch its election promise to mandate 20% of our energy to come from renewable sources by 2020. They don’t want to lose market share or pay for more expensive green energy. But the policy is essential if we are to develop a competitive green energy sector that will benefit us all.

The transition away from fossil fuels opens up new opportunities in skills, manufacturing and infrastructure development. Early planning will help ensure that a skilled workforce is ready to deliver the low-carbon future. Moving to a renewable energy-based society can be done smoothly and justly.

Jobs will be created in renewable technologies and cogeneration, replacing those lost in coal generation and coal mining. Estimates from the Clean Energy Council indicate that the 20% renewable energy target will create $20 billion worth of new investment and around 50,000 jobs from now until 2020, particularly in regional areas.

It will also mean that everyone’s carbon footprint will be reduced by 2020, in addition other measures from an emissions trading scheme and energy efficiency.

The 20 per cent by 2020 MRET will put Australia on a par with the Chinese renewable energy target, but still behind California’s 33 per cent target.

Environmentalists are calling for a stronger Mandatory Renewable Energy Target, saying Australia will need at least 25 per cent of its power coming from renewable sources if we are to cut our greenhouse gas emissions by just 30 per cent 2020 (from 1990 levels).

Not a ‘clean energy target’
Some politicians and business groups talk about a ‘clean energy target’ but it is not the same thing as a ‘renewable energy target’.

Renewable energy targets require a fixed percentage of electricity generation to come from 100 per cent renewable sources with zero emissions, while ‘clean’ energy targets require to a fixed percentage of electricity to come from sources with emissions intensity below a particular threshold. In other words, ‘clean’ energy is not zero emission energy. Coal fired power stations with geosequestration (aka carbon capture and storage, CCS or ‘clean coal’) – and even nuclear reactors – could make the cut supplying power under a ‘clean energy target’!