Policy Scorecard slams Coalition's sustainable energy policies

Still not sure which party has the best sustainability policies? Check out the Sustainable Energy Association of Australia’s (SEA’s) 2013 Policy Scorecard, which evaluates the leading parties’ policies on sustainable energy.

Focusing mainly on policy areas of interest to SEA members, the Scorecard covers: climate change, emissions reduction, renewable energy, energy efficiency, sustainable built environment and transport.

The Scorecard rates each party’s policy support for the issue: green indicates the party supports the policy; yellow indicates the support is conditional or the party has no published policy; and red shows the party does not support the policy.

The Greens are true to their name with the most green-shaded boxes on the Scorecard, which reflects their unqualified support for emissions reduction, carbon pricing and renewable energy.

“The results present a compelling visual snapshot of how the parties line up around issues like support for the fixed Renewable Energy Target (RET) and carbon pricing,” said SEA Chief Executive Kirsten Rose.

“In our view, Labor has an opportunity to promote stronger policies to support a sustainable built environment and sustainable transport.

“We believe that the Coalition’s Direct Action plan is inadequate on many levels and has the potential to take us backwards quickly. Of particular concern is the Coalition’s lukewarm position on the fixed Renewable Energy Target, which has historically enjoyed bipartisan support and fundamentally underpins the development of renewable energy in Australia.

“Treasury and private analyses have shown that the Coalition’s budgeted $3.2 billion will not be sufficient to achieve the 5% emissions reduction that Australia has committed to Mr Abbott seems perfectly comfortable with that, which is frankly reprehensible.

“The lack of Coalition policy support would make it a more challenging environment for the sustainable energy industry, but we have momentum and public opinion on our side.”

The Scorecard is available to download here.