Australia would loose thousands of jobs and billions of dollars in potential investment if it scraps its renewable energy target, global finance giant Bloomberg warned the federal government.
A report released by the media and financial data company’s renewable energy research division suggest that renewable energy target scrapping would also put more than 10,000 jobs at risk.
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Currently, an expert panel is reviewing the country’s aim to use renewable energy sources to produce 20% of its power by 2020.
Any changes in the planned target would have a devastating impact on the clean energy industry, the Bloomberg report lead author Kobad Bhavnagri said.
Bhavnagri said, "The current renewable energy target, as currently in place, is expected to drive about $35bn of investment in clean energy by 2020.
"If that was cut, $21bn of that would not get spent, and if it was reduced we’d expect that about $12bn less would be invested."
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By GlobalDataThe renewable energy sources offer a low-cost alternative to fossil fuels as well as contribute to cheaper wholesale electricity prices, the report suggests.
Bhavnagri added: "If you cut or reduce the renewable energy target and the amount of renewable generation in the system, there’s less competition among the existing fossil fuel power generators, and also more energy will need to be supplied by coal and gas-fired generation which is expensive at the time of production."
