CORRECTED - Australian govt to keep renewable energy target despite opposition objections

Mar 21, 2013 - The Australian Labour government has decided to stick to the renewable energy target (RET) of 41,000 GWh, or 20% of the energy generation in Australia, by 2020, the ministry of climate change said today.

Choosing to follow the advice from the Climate Change Authority to keep RET unchanged, Australian minister for climate change Greg Combet rejected the calls of the opposition and the energy industry to reduce it.

He added that the agreed 20% were just the minimum for renewables in the energy supply and one has to leave the way open for improvements.

Some energy industry groups were worried that falling demand for electricity will hike the share of renewable energy in the energy mix up to 27% by 2020. In order to keep their interests, these companies lobbied for the RET to be adjusted to amount to 20%.

The opposition went even further by promising to cut the target if elected.

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