With the current Renewable Energy Target (RET) set at 20% by 2020, the Greens are pushing for it to be increased to 90% by 2030. They believe with an action plan, this is an achievable target and we should be pushing to get 100% of our power from renewables as soon as possible.

Greens leader Christine Milne also pitched to have another $20 billion put into the Australia’s Clean Energy Finance Corporation over the next 10 years – increasing the total funding to $30 billion. The corporation was set up between the Labour Party and the Greens for the carbon pricing.

Senator Milne said, “’When the 20 per cent renewable energy target was set for 2020, people said it was way ambitious, it wouldn’t be able to be achieved. But once you put in place a road map, then the technology development and business got behind it and you have seen the rollout very fast.”

The Senator believes that by setting an ambitious target, getting an action plan in place, we will achieve our goals faster. Aim for the stars as they say.

The Senator also had a few words to say on the emissions trading scheme and said that the Labour Party, or Kevin Rudd, was encouraging the scheme to happen earlier. “What (Kevin Rudd) wants to do is make it cheaper for the big polluters to pollute,” she said. “Why would you want to tinker with something that is working?”

A report by the Australian Energy Market Operator in April of this year showed that 100% renewable Australia is very feasible, but could be costly. “We know that it’s technically feasible, it’s more about how much money we put into it,” Senator Milne said. “We can get to 90% renewables by 2030 and then the last 10% is the challenge, to do it in the most economically efficient way.”