<
https://reneweconomy.com.au/trumps-paris-cop-out-is-bad-news-for-climate-but-could-give-australia-a-boost/>
"Donald Trump’s abandonment of the US’s climate goals won’t deter Australian
investment in clean energy, with the sector promising tens of thousands of new
jobs.
Australia has an enormous opportunity to speed up investment in clean energy
after newly-minted president Donald Trump ended the United States’ embrace of
renewables, the prime minister says.
Within hours of becoming president, Mr Trump has already pulled the US – the
world’s second-largest greenhouse gas emitter – out of the Paris climate
agreement, vowed to halt new offshore wind farm approvals and signed orders
speeding up drilling for fossil fuels.
While the move spells bad news for global carbon emissions, with the US
currently producing around 14 per cent of global emissions, the freeing up of
financial capacity could benefit renewable energy developers in Australia.
The global pool of project finance will still remain and that capital will need
to be deployed somewhere, Clean Energy Council spokesman Chris O’Keefe said.
“Given our competitive advantage here in Australia, with so much wind and so
much solar, we’d be crazy not to welcome it with open arms,” he told
AAP.
“That is a real opportunity for us, and that is happening already.”
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese acknowledged the US’s new climate stance would
impact the world but maintained Australia would “continue to take action on
climate change”.
“Even if you didn’t accept the science of climate change, the economic
opportunity that is there is enormous for us, not just to reduce emissions, but
to grow our economy and grow jobs,” he told reporters in Sydney on Tuesday.
More than 40,000 jobs are set to be created in the industry nationwide over the
next five years.
“It generates hundreds of thousands of dollars for farmers to mitigate the
impacts of drought or flood,” Mr O’Keefe said.
“It generates millions of dollars for communities, not just in direct benefits
through community benefit funds, but the jobs it generates.”"
Cheers,
*** Xanni ***
--
mailto:xanni@xanadu.net Andrew Pam
http://xanadu.com.au/ Chief Scientist, Xanadu
https://glasswings.com.au/ Partner, Glass Wings
https://sericyb.com.au/ Manager, Serious Cybernetics
