Frank Jotzo, Crawford School of Public Policy, Australian National University
The Labor Party’s newly announced energy policy could finally set Australia’s electricity sector on the path to a renewables-driven future. But policies are still needed to cut emissions elsewhere.
The federal government’s the stubborn commitment to coal is pulling the government’s economic policy towards the sort of state socialism it is supposed to abhor.
Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull has abandoned the emissions-reduction component of his signature energy policy, in the latest chapter of a brutal decade-long saga for Australian climate policy.
The latest polls show the government’s internal divisions are taking their toll- and some of its members are seriously out of step with the general public on energy policy.
Renewable energy investment is gathering steam throughout the world. Australia’s National Energy Guarantee policy should be made agile enough to jump on board, because this runaway train won’t stop.
Federal energy minister says his state counterparts have moved closer to approving the National Energy Guarantee, but no one signed on the dotted line at Friday’s crunch talks.
As energy ministers head into a crucial meeting with their federal counterpart Josh Frydenberg, our state-by-state guide compares their various stances on the future of the National Energy Guarantee.
The National Energy Guarantee faces a crunch test this week. And if the climate wars of the past few decades are any guide, Australian policies more often sink than swim when the waters get choppy.
Salim Mazouz, Australian National University; Frank Jotzo, Crawford School of Public Policy, Australian National University et Hugh Saddler, Australian National University
The final design of the National Energy Guarantee promises that the policy will drive down power prices. But there is precious little evidence for this assertion.
A policy that aims to reshape the electricity sector needs to be judged on its numbers. But the lack of public modelling from the Energy Security Board makes it impossible for analysts to do this.
Australia’s transition to low-emissions energy will rely on what we have now (lots of coal) and what we’ll build in the future (lots of renewables), according to a new report.
Australia’s consumer watchdog has concluded that rooftop solar incentives have distorted the market unfairly for those who cannot afford solar panels, and has recommended the scheme ends ten years early.
There are calls from the backbench and elsewhere for the federal government to safeguard the future of coal. But do those calls make economic sense? A look at Queensland’s energy landscape suggests not.