Australia sets 20 percent renewable target

CANBERRA, Australia, Aug. 20 (UPI) -- Australia passed legislation Thursday requiring 20 percent of the nation's power to come from renewable sources by 2020, more than twice the current level of 8 percent.

The renewable energy target bill, approved today by the Senate, comes on the heels of a series of amendments and compromises between the government and the opposition. Originally part of a comprehensive carbon emissions trading scheme, rejected last week by the Senate, it was carved into a separate law, thus improving its chances of being passed.

"This will be the largest increase in renewables in the nation's history," said Climate Change Minister Penny Wong. "We will see a four-fold increase in renewable energy by 2020."

The legislation could spur $28 billion of investment in new generation capacity over the next decade and the creation of 28,000 jobs in industries such as wind and solar power, according to the Clean Energy Council, an alliance of the Australian Wind Energy Industry Association and the Australian Business Council for Sustainable Energy.

Opposition leader Malcolm Turnbull said the agreement is "a victory for common sense"

Under the plan, electricity generators will be rewarded for every megawatt-hour of green energy produced, while electricity wholesalers will be penalized for not sourcing a fixed share of energy from renewable technologies.

Coal-fired plants supply about 86 percent of Australia's electricity, and coal is its biggest export. While Australia accounts for 1.5 percent of the world's greenhouse gas emissions, it also has the highest per capita carbon emissions in the developed world.

The Australian Conservation Foundation said the legislation "is an important step towards a cleaner future for Australia."

However, ACF Executive Director Don Henry said the organization "is disappointed more compensation has been granted to big polluters, the costs of which will be unfairly borne by households and small business."

Prime Minister Kevin Rudd's Labor Party is planning to reintroduce an amended version of the carbon emissions trading plan, rejected last week, to Parliament in November.

The proposed law called for reducing greenhouse gases by between 5 percent and 15 percent of 2000 levels in the next decade, with a conditional upper limit of 25 percent if other nations agreed to similar targets during the December U.N. climate change talks in Copenhagen, Denmark.

"The next major priority for our parliamentarians, in the months leading up to the crucial U.N. climate negotiations at Copenhagen in December, is to strengthen and pass the emissions trading legislation to show Australia is prepared to walk the talk on climate change action," said ACF's Henry.