Australia’s Emissions to Falling Thanks to Renewable Energy
Australia’s greenhouse gas emissions will stop climbing and slowly begin to fall over the next three years as the nation feels the effects of the recent renewable energy boom.
Academics in the Australian National University estimate national emissions will dip by 3%-4% by 2022, finishing the year-on-year increases recorded because of the abolition of the carbon cost scheme.
Nevertheless, they discovered deeper emissions reductions through the 2020s to meet with the target set under the Paris climate arrangement would be based on the national and, to a lesser extent, state authorities supporting additional growth of solar and wind by ensuring sufficient new power transmission and storage.
Solar and wind energy provides the most economical way to make deep reductions in emissions due to their low and continuously decreasing price. If the renewable energy pipeline is slowed or stopped due to insufficient storage and transmission, then emissions may rise again from 2022.
While the call for decreased carbon emission is near-universal, little weight is placed on the need for government policy to continue to push what’s been a surge in clean energy investment since 2017.
The 2020 national renewable energy goal primarily drives the current boom. It led to almost 3.5 gigawatts of capacity being constructed this past year; three times greater than the year earlier. Moreover, the goal, equivalent to about 23% of national electricity demand, has been met.
