Australia’s making significant progress as it works to become more reliant on renewable energy.
Upon winning the Federal Election in 2022, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said he planned to make the country a renewable superpower.
Throughout the campaign he’d also laid out a plan to raise the amount of renewable energy in the electricity grid to 82% by 2030.
Energy and resource law expert Penelope Crossley from the University of Sydney told 1News that there’s been a market shift in attitude since Albanese took the top job.
However, she warned the government would need to put its money where its mouth is.
"The amount that we invest is actually going to have to double by 2030 to hit the 82% target that we're aiming for to meet our Paris reduction," she said.
Australia is still deeply tied to fossil fuels. However, according to OpenNEM, the January – June 2022 half year was the best for renewable energy consumption, making up 32% of the market.
Crossley warns that the country’s electricity prices are forecast to rise by 50% over the next two years, meaning the Albanese government isn’t entirely turning its back on coal and gas.
"So it is in that context that the Australian government has actually put out to tender 47,000 kilometres of new plots for oil and gas exploration,” she said.
“That's a really difficult balance for Australia to play – how to manage domestic energy security, while at the same time meeting our climate targets.”
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