On 21 March 2013, the Minister for Climate Change, Industry and Innovation announced the Australian Government’s response to the Climate Change Authority (CCA) review of the Renewable Energy Target (RET) scheme. The CCA is required by statute to review the RET scheme every two years having regard to a number of broad principles including economic efficiency, environmental effectiveness, equity and consistency. The final report from the first such review was released on 19 December 2012. The review considered the current operating environment for the RET scheme, which now includes the Carbon Pricing Mechanism. The review found that the RET scheme is complementary to the carbon price as a transitional measure while a carbon price is being established. The Government response largely agreed with the CCA’s recommendations based on the evidence outlined in the review. Specifically, the Australian Government has agreed to retain the key design features of the RET scheme including:
- separate large-scale and small-scale components; and
- the current profile of annual legislated targets, fixed in terms of gigawatt-hours, under the large-scale component.
A Regulation Impact Statement was prepared by the former Department of Climate Change and Energy Efficiency and assessed as adequate by the Office of Best Practice Regulation.
- Australian Government response to recommendations from the Climate Change Authority Review of the Renewable Energy Target scheme – Regulation Impact Statement [
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