Sian Crampsie
Australia could rapidly cut its emissions of greenhouse gases by promoting energy efficiency, switching to decarbonised energy and promoting forestry, a new report has found.
Environmental group WWF says that the country could source all of its power from renewable energy by 2050 and could also maintain strong economic growth while cutting emissions.
The country is currently committed to cutting carbon emissions by five per cent below 2000 levels by 2020, and in June is expected to make an announcement on its plans for the post-2020 period.
The country is one of the most vulnerable to the effects of climate change in the developed world, and therefore has a strong interest in pushing for meaningful global action on climate change, says WWF.
However, investment in renewables has dried up over uncertainty surrounding the government's attitude towards clean energy and climate action.
The report, produced in conjunction with the Australian National University (ANU), shows that Australia is well-placed to take advantage of the falling costs of renewable energy. It has a large technical potential for solar and wind power as well as wave and geothermal energy.
Biomass, existing hydropower and energy storage systems could help the system cope with the peaks ad troughs of demand, says WWF, which also believes that a fully renewable option for Australia would have a similar cost to other options involving large-scale gas of carbon capture and storage (CCS).
The report is a review of existing research into Australia's emissions and energy systems and points out the efforts that other large emitters - notably the USA and China - have gone to in order to reduce emissions and grow renewables.
It says that Australia could take advantage of planned retirements of existing power generation plants to make the transition cost-effective, and avoid the potential for 'carbon lock-in' that would arise from investing in new fossil fuel-fired power plants.
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