The Federal Government has announced it has fully accepted the recommendation from the Climate Change Authority that the Renewable Energy Target (RET) should not be watered down.

The Authority urged the Government to maintain the target of having at least 20 per cent of Australia’s electricity generation coming from renewable sources by 2020.

Federal Minister for Climate Change, Greg Combet, said the 20 per cent quota opened the way for future developments in the sector while providing concrete improvements to carbon emission reduction.

“Arguments to reduce or cap renewable energy at 20 per cent of generation in 2020 ignore the need to reduce the emissions-intensity of Australia’s electricity sector so that we remain competitive as the world moves to clean energy,” Mr Combet said.

“The Climate Change Authority’s analysis shows reducing the legislated large-scale renewable energy target of 41,000 gigawatt hours would increase carbon pollution by 119 million tonnes over the life of the scheme. It would also create investment uncertainty that would undermine existing and proposed renewable energy investment in Australia.”

The full review can be found here