6 March
2008 - The process of bringing together
State and Federal renewable energy targets
is well underway following the second meeting
of the COAG Working Group on Climate Change
and Water.
Following agreement
from the Working Group at a meeting today
in Sydney, COAG will now consider an implementation
plan to deliver the new national expanded
Renewable Energy Target by 2009.
Federal Minister for
Climate Change and Water, Senator Penny
Wong, said a nationally consistent renewable
energy target would stimulate much needed
investment in clean energy to reduce greenhouse
emissions.
“Bringing existing State
based targets into one national target provides
consistency for investors looking to support
Australia’s renewable energy industry.”
The national scheme
will include a legislated target of 45,000
gigawatt-hours of renewables-based electricity
in 2020. This will ensure 20 per cent of
Australia’s electricity supply will be sourced
from renewables by 2020.
Senator Wong said the
Working Group had also agreed to recommend
to COAG a review of current climate change
mitigation initiatives in all jurisdictions,
in the context of the Government’s commitment
to emissions trading, with a view to a final
report to COAG in 2009.
The Working Group also
considered harmonising State feed-in tariffs
for solar and other renewable energy technologies,
proposing the preparation of an options
paper on a nationally consistent approach
to feed-in tariffs for COAG by the end of
June.
Senator Wong said action
on energy efficiency was also well underway,
with a scoping exercise involving current
and planned energy efficiency measures across
jurisdictions being undertaken, as well
as an evaluation of successful international
programs that could be applied in Australia.
The meeting was also
presented with a range of options to progress
the National Water Initiative.
The COAG Working Group on Climate Change
and Water is comprised of officials from
all Australian Governments and is chaired
by Senator Wong.
This inclusion of Federal
Ministers in the working group process was
a key outcome of the Rudd Government’s first
COAG meeting in December 2007.
The working group will
report on its progress to the COAG meeting
on 26 March.
Media Contact: John Olenich
