[Greens-Media] Iemma should push on with NSW renewable energy target

John Kaye John.Kaye at parliament.nsw.gov.au
Mon Sep 24 06:19:17 EST 2007


Iemma should push on with NSW renewable energy target

Media Release: 24 September 2007

The Howard government’s renewable energy target announced yesterday would deliver a smaller reduction in this state’s greenhouse gas emissions  than that proposed by the NSW government, according to Greens NSW MP John Kaye.

Dr Kaye said: "The renewable energy target legislation that is currently before the NSW parliament is far from perfect but it is a step ahead of that proposed by Prime Minister John Howard yesterday.

"While the 2020 targets are notionally the same, the inclusion of so-called 'clean coal' into the federal scheme could damage opportunities for genuine renewable technologies.

"Capturing and burying carbon dioxide is a high risk activity that may not deliver long term reductions, if it works at all. Including it in the scheme might be a gift to the coal corporations but it will certainly undermine the integrity of the target.

"It is hard to see how a megawatt hour of energy produced by a coal plant that is capturing and storing its CO2 can be meaningfully compared to the output of a wind turbine producing no greenhouse gases.

"A state-based scheme would also ensure that the employment and economic development opportunities arising from renewable energy would be delivered here in NSW. 

"John Howard’s national scheme would see too many of those benefits go off to South Australia.

"The Prime Minister would see this state tied to the coal industry as it sinks, with little employment regeneration from renewables.

"Premier Iemma needs to listen to his federal colleague Peter Garrett and push on with NSW’s mandatory renewable energy scheme.

"The state legislation was expected in the NSW Upper House shortly after the resumption of parliament this week. The Greens plan to amend it to raise the target and to ensure that the jobs are kept here in NSW," Dr Kaye said. 

For more information:	John Kaye 0407 195 455 





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