Greens plan to repower Victoria with 100% renewable energy hits the target on global warming

Today’s policy announcement by the Victorian Greens to make Victoria 100% renewable energy powered by 2030 has been strongly welcomed by Environment Victoria.

“This is the strongest and most comprehensive plan we’ve seen in Victoria to address the climate crisis and drive renewable energy deployment across the state” Environment Victoria CEO Mark Wakeham said today.

“Tackling global warming requires that we rapidly scale up renewable energy and move on from dangerous and dirty coal power. Today’s announcement by the Greens proposes to do just that.

The plan involves building $9 billion worth of publicly-owned large-scale renewable energy and significantly increasing the Victorian Renewable Energy Target to 100% by 2030. It also sets a clear timeline for retiring coal-burning power stations and ensuring that Victoria has the infrastructure in place to manage a significant increase in renewable energy in Victoria.

“We particularly welcome the emphasis on ensuring that the transition to renewable energy delivers support for the entire community – whether they be a renter in the suburbs of Melbourne or a coal worker in the Latrobe Valley.

The Greens announcement includes a timeline to phase out Victoria’s old coal generators, providing communities with the capacity to plan adequately, as well as placing pollution standards on existing generators to limit the amount of damage they can do.

“The OECD has said that to avoid the worst impacts of global warming, developed countries like Australia need to stop burning coal by 2030. That’s the timeframe this Greens plan is proposing, and that’s the timeframe we need to be working towards – it is in everybody’s interests to limit global warming as much as we can.

“Today’s announcement has set the bar for ambition on climate change. We look forward to other parties developing similarly ambitious policies to make Victoria a global leader in addressing global warming.

“Environment Victoria has been part of the #Repower campaign to shift Victoria and Australia to 100% renewable energy by 2030. We know the solutions exists, and we know that people see the lack of political will as the biggest barrier. We are very pleased to see the Greens commit to making a fast and fair transition to a pollution-free society a reality,” said Mr Wakeham.