Australia's PM Conspired against Alternative Energy Investment?

Australia's "The Age" newspaper alleges that the Australian Federal Government and fossil-fuel industry executives discussed ways to stifle growing investment in renewable energy projects at a secret meeting earlier this year.

Prime Minister John Howard called the meeting on May 6, five weeks before releasing the energy white paper on June 14.

The white paper favours massive investment in research to make fossil fuels cleaner, at the expense of schemes boosting growth in renewable energy.

Mr Howard called together the fossil-fuel-based Lower Emissions Technology Advisory Group to seek advice on ways to avoid extending the mandatory renewable energy targets scheme.

The Government has touted the scheme as a key plank in achieving its Kyoto Protocol target to hold greenhouse emissions at 108 per cent of 1990 levels.

The Government continues to refuse to ratify the protocol, despite Russia's decision last week to ratify and bring the protocol into legal effect.

Russia's move further isolates the United States and Australia.

Most countries, including big emitters India and China, support the protocol.

The mandatory renewables target is the only legally enforceable measure among Australia's otherwise voluntary policies to encourage lower emissions.

But according to minutes taken by Rio Tinto's acting chairman, Sam Walsh, the Industry and Resources Minister, Ian Macfarlane, told the May 6 meeting the scheme had worked too well.

The scheme requires power companies and large consumers to source an extra 9500 gigawatt hours of electricity from renewable sources by 2010. The 9500 kilowatt-hours target amounts to less than 1 per cent of projected electricity generation in 2010.

Mr Macfarlane said "investment in renewables was running ahead of the original planning", and was generating renewable energy certificates ahead of original projections.

The Government-commissioned Tambling review, tabled last January, warned that unless the scheme was extended beyond 2010, investment in renewable energy generation would stall after 2007 and Australia would be locked out of technical advances that would reduce costs.

The review panel recommended doubling the target to 20,000 megawatt hours by 2020.

It said the economic cost would be 0.08 per cent of GDP, but consumers were willing to pay more for clean power.

But Mr Howard told the May 6 meeting that a $1.5 billion low-emission energy fund was more attractive, as extending the renewables scheme would cost industry $1.7 billion.

The industry representatives agreed with the Government's idea, which was similar to a fund set up by the United States Department of Energy.

The Prime Minister said the mandatory target had been a burden on industry, but "it was not credible to ignore" the Tambling review.

He said there was a real need to propose credible alternatives that would pass "the pub test".

Mr Macfarlane supported a levy on all consumers over 10 to 15 years to create the new $1.5 billion technology fund.

The white paper released five weeks later, however, proposed that the Government provide $500 million, with the rest from industry on a two-for-one dollar basis.

The minister closed the meeting stressing the need for "absolute" confidentiality to avoid a "huge outcry" from the renewable energy industry.

Australian elections are being held on October 9th.

The Age Article on PM John Howard and Alternative Energy in Australia