South Australia wants to boost its renewable energy target to 50% by 2025 if the RET remains in place. New reports by ClimateWorks have also urged Australia to set 50% targets by 2030.

South Australian Premier Jay Weatherill announced this week that they will booast their target to 50% by 2030 but on the condition that the RET remains in place – their target will only be successful if there is that support from the Federal Government.

“This new target of half the State’s power to be generated by renewable sources will create jobs and drive capital investment and advanced manufacturing industries,” said the Premier.

South Australia has one of the highest uptakes of solar and renewable energies. As it stands now, they are set to easily surpass their current target of 33%.

A new analysis called ‘Pathways to Deep Decarbonisation’ by ClimateWorks and ANU shows 15 of the world’s biggest economies and how they can switch to ‘net carbon zero’ by 2050 without imposing extra costs. The report analyses Australia, Brazil, Canada, China, France, Germany, India, Indonesia, Japan, Mexico, Russia, South Africa, South Korea, the UK and the USA.

The report finds that electricity bills will be lower than they are now, economic growth will be roughly what it is now but the health and environmental benefits will be astronomical. All we need to do is become carbon free.

“There are many pathways for Australia to substantially reduce emissions, but all include greatly improved energy efficiency across the economy, a nearly carbon free power system and switching to low carbon energy sources in transport, buildings and industry,” says Anna Skarbek, the executive director of ClimateWorks.

“Taking the carbon out of our electricity system provides the largest reduction in emissions. Then we can use the carbon-free electricity to replace petrol in cars, and gas in buildings and some industrial processes.”

“The move to a low emissions electricity system can be developed with technologies that exist today. But we need to move faster – this report shows we’ll need at least 50 per cent renewable electricity by 2030 to achieve a decarbonised electricity system in the time we have left to stay within the carbon budget.”

The report gives different options or scenarios in which a carbon free environment is achievable, including using carbon capture and storage (CSS), 100% renewables and nuclear energy. In all scenarios, solar power will provide around 50% of all generation.

The report will be presented to the UN this week at the climate summit. These 15 countries alone account for 70% of the world’s greenhouse gas emissions. The research shows that all 15 countries can find a way to become carbon free by 2050 while still sustaining economic growth.

So what are we waiting for!! Play your part and install solar today – get lower power bills and become part of the 50% of solar that’s going to power our nation.