Clean Energy Council welcomes opportunity to challenge misconceptions and illustrate the value of the RET  

Australia’s Clean Energy Council (CEC) has welcomed the upcoming review of the Renewable Energy Target as an opportunity to illustrate its value and debunk common misconceptions about renewable energy and climate change.

In a statement released today Chief Executive David Green said, “The clean energy industry is keen to show the huge positive impact of a stable target, delivering 41,000 gigawatt hours of large-scale renewable energy and millions more solar households and businesses by 2020.

“We relish the opportunity to demonstrate the $18 billion value that the existing Renewable Energy Target represents for our economy, and also for the nation to show current and future investors that Australia is open for business.”

Some doubts have been cast over the future of the RET, with senior Liberal party members positioning the review as a fact-finding mission for the government providing ammunition against continuing it.

Questions have been raised about the level of support the public would hold the RET if they knew how expensive it is. Luckily some recent estimates put the price tag at around $15 per household per year – mere pennies a day. Conversely the RET has proven to create jobs, help cut emissions and provide low cost power solutions heading into the next decade.

David Green explains, “Every review of the Renewable Energy Target to date has shown that it is doing what it is meant to – delivering clean energy such as solar, wind, bioenergy and hydro at the lowest possible cost to consumers, while providing thousands of jobs and significant investment across Australia.

With the announcement that Dick Warburton would head the review of the RET the media has been quick to label him a “climate sceptic”. Warburton has pushed back against the claim, telling The Australian, “I am not a denier of climate change. I am a sceptic that man-made carbon dioxide is creating global warming.”

We’ll leave you to make up your own mind about that one.