“Quiet revolution:” Wind and solar slash electricity emissions by 40% in just 10 years
The growth in renewables between 2015 and 2025 – including on the nation’s rooftops – is on track to cut Australia’s electricity sector emissions by nearly 40%, a report has found.
That's equivalent to reducing the emissions from all of the nation’s light cars, commercial vehicles and aeroplanes to zero.
The report says renewable energy in 2023 was 2.5 times greater than what it was in 2015, and its share of generation increased from 16% to around 40%.
This surge in the renewables share of the grid has already reduced power sector emissions by 30% relative to if Australia had remained reliant on the 2015 fleet of mostly coal-fired power stations.
Clean Energy Council chief Kane Thornton says that if Australia achieves its 82% renewable energy target by 2030, the total emissions saving between 2015 and 2030 is expected to reach 998 million tonnes.
But the shift to renewables can’t do the job of meeting Australia’s emissions reduction targets alone.
Most other sectors’ emissions are currently on track to either remain the same or increase over the 2015-25 period.
Rebounding agriculture and transport emissions, in particular, are cancelling out reductions in the power sector.
This is perhaps one of the reasons why the Albanese government has been reluctant to commit to a 2035 emissions reduction target before next year’s May federal election.
Getting from 43% below 2005 levels in 2030 to the 65-75% mark called for in some quarters just five years later will require gutsy policies that move well beyond the realm of renewable energy targets.