The Political Economy of Renewable Energy Generation in Australia
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Transcript of The Political Economy of Renewable Energy Generation in Australia
The Political Economy of Renewable Energy Generation
in AustraliaJemma V. Williams
Fenner School of Environment & SocietyAustralian National University
Jeremy B. WilliamsAsia-Pacific Centre for Sustainable Enterprise
Griffith University
1. Climate change adaption
<20C
November 2011
2. The Clean Energy Future package
Aims to transform Australia’s energy production, distribution and usage systems
The carbon pricing scheme
Improving energy efficiency
Creating opportunities in the land sector to cut pollution
Promoting innovation and investment in renewable
energy
The Australian Capital Territory Region (ACR)
Is a quasi-official sub-region of the state of NSW, with Canberra in the ACT as a regional capital city
Political Discord
Legacy Grid
Institutional Dissonance
Public Antipathy
Regulatory hurdles
Economic Hurdles
Technical Hurdles
Policy control by incumbents
Barriers to the adoption of
renewable energy
Political Discord
Legacy Grid
Institutional Dissonance
Public Antipathy
Regulatory hurdles
Economic Hurdles
Technical Hurdles
Barriers not unique to renewable energy policy
Barriers addressed by the CEF renewable energy initiatives
Barriers unique to renewable energy policy
Policy control by incumbents
Political Discord
Legacy Grid
Institutional Dissonance
Public Antipathy
Economic Hurdles
Technical Hurdles
Barriers not unique to renewable energy policy
Barriers addressed by the CEF renewable energy initiatives
Barriers unique to renewable energy policy
Policy and regulatory control by the incumbent
Media Misinformation
Regulatory hurdles
Policy control by incumbents
Political Discord
Legacy Grid
Institutional Dissonance
Public Antipathy
Barriers not unique to renewable energy policy
Barriers unique to renewable energy policy
Media Misinformation
Policy and regulatory control by incumbents
“So the Clean Energy Package … it’s a small first step [but] nowhere near enough to be an adequate response to what the science demands.
… But at least it has initiated the process and has some small but significant impact.”
Clive Hamilton
Climate Change Authority
3. The implications of business as usual
Meeting the Cancun Agreement commitment
International commitment to limit global warming to 2°C above pre-industrial levels
Meinshausen et al calculated that to reduce the chance of exceeding 2°C warming to 20%, the global carbon budget for 2000-2050 is 886Gt CO2
Deducting emissions from the first decade of this century, leaves a budget of 565Gt CO2 for the 40 years to 2050
Dr. Malte Meinshausen
July 2011
The carbon budget for the 40 years to 2050 is 565Gt CO2
All of the proven reserves owned by private and public companies and governments are equivalent to 2,795Gt CO2
Only 20% of the total reserves can be burned unabated, leaving up to
80% of assets technically unburnable
http://www.carbontracker.org/wp-content/uploads/downloads/2012/08/Unburnable-Carbon-Full1.pdf
At the present rate of consumption, the 2000-2050 carbon budget will be exceeded around 2024
Nick Robins, Head of the Climate Change Centre at HSBC Bank, London, on the impact in Europe of a deflating carbon bubble:
Could nearly halve the value of coal assets on the London exchange, and knock three-fifths from the value of oil and gas companies.
“At the moment this risk is not being priced at all”
“The average pension fund invests about 55 per cent of its portfolio in high-carbon intensive industries and only 2 per cent in their low carbon counterparts.
How are they going to manage the risk of catastrophic climate change going forward? The best way is to put a higher percentage of their funds in low carbon-intensive industries.”
John Hewson
Asset Owners Disclosure Project (AODP)
4. Creating a resilient energy portfolio
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