The Climate Council is calling on all governments to speed up plans to phase out coal and gas, in response to the Australian Energy Market Operator’s latest annual Electricity Statement of Opportunities report update.
Higher electricity demand is expected – including for EV charging.
“Australia needs to phase out fossil fuels as quickly as possible and replace them with clean and affordable renewables and storage,” says Climate Council councillor, energy expert and former BP Australasia president Greg Bourne.
“It’s the quickest path to a cheaper, cleaner, safer, and more reliable electricity system.
“Coal and gas simply cannot compete with renewables and storage on price.”
Renewables and storage are already well on the way to reliably powering Australia.
Nationally, renewables provided five times more power than gas in the National Electricity Market in 2021. Tasmania is already 100% renewables and South Australia got two-thirds of its power from renewables in 2021.
Says Bourne: “Supporting or funding new fossil fuel projects will only drive-up power prices and make Australia more susceptible to global energy shocks.”
Join the conversation