This is the Business Council of Australia Submission to the Expert Panel on the Renewable Energy Target Review.

It is essential that Australia’s energy and climate change policy settings are integrated and designed to:

• maximise Australia’s competitive advantage in energy through efficient markets
• drive growth in our energy resource development and exports
• deliver reliable, efficient and competitively priced energy to households and businesses
• realise these growth opportunities while meeting best practice environmental standards
• manage Australia’s greenhouse gas emissions in line with global efforts, at least cost.

To achieve these goals the Renewable Energy Target (RET) should be amended. The RET is an expensive mechanism to reduce greenhouse gas emissions relative to other measures and this cost is passed onto Australian households and business through higher electricity prices.

Accordingly, the BCA supports amending the RET to a true 20 per cent by 2020 target and not extending the target once all obligations have been met in 2030.

Any amendments considered as part of the review of the RET should not adversely affect investments that have already been made and should be mindful of their impact on investments currently being planned, or already subject to approval.

Submission to the Expert Panel on the Renewable Energy Target Review