The Clean Energy Council and the Clean Energy Investor Group have warned that political grandstanding over net-zero targets risks undermining the investor confidence and policy certainty needed to build cheap, clean, and reliable power.
The peak bodies called for long-term political stability and a returned focus to unjamming Australia’s clean energy rollout if we are to continue driving investor certainty, which is the only way to ensure the critical projects Australia needs to replace retiring coal get built in time.
Clean Energy Council CEO Jackie Trad said, “Australians are consistently voting for climate action to protect our environment, and this can only be achieved through universal support for net zero. Without a net zero target we risk further delaying the delivery of new, clean electricity generation capacity that can reduce irreversible impacts on nature and bring down power prices faster than any alternative.
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“Australia’s renewables rollout is already well underway with major energy generators, connection assets and system reliability services in train, or under construction. We are replacing Australia’s old, outdated and uneconomic energy system with cleaner, more efficient technology.
“Any time you build new kit it comes at a cost, but research shows Australians will be 30-50% better off with a renewables-led energy system,” Trad said.
Recent modelling by Griffith University shows that a grid powered predominantly by coal and gas, compared to today’s electricity grid, would see power prices 30-50% higher.
The Australian Energy Council, who represents all of the major energy retailers, supports this reality and this week released its own report with companies such as AGL, Energy Australia, Origin Energy and others, citing renewables as the cheapest path forward for Australia to keep energy bills as low as possible in the future.
“Scientists, researchers and industry experts agree that a power system predominantly powered by coal and gas is a recipe for higher power bills. Without clean energy, like sun and wind, putting downward pressure on electricity prices, Australia would be increasingly exposed to international price spikes, just as the gas market was following the Russian invasion of Ukraine,” Trad said.
Clean Energy Investor Group CEO Richie Merzian said, “The market has already spoken. Wind and solar are the cheapest forms of energy. Jeopardising investment in renewable energy will result in one thing: higher power prices for Australians.
“If we want domestic and international investment in this vital national project to continue and the jobs, benefits, procurement and rates that follow it to continue, then we cannot afford to even contemplate a return to the stop-start approach that has frustrated the majority of Australians backing this transition, for far too long,” he said.
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AEMO’s latest quarterly market dynamics report shows over 1100MW of new renewable generation and 129MW of battery storage being added to the National Electricity Market compared to the same time in 2024 and is setting the wholesale market price more frequently.
In addition, the CSIRO’s 2025 GenCost report, the scorecard estimating the cost of new electricity generation and storage technologies in Australia, found that large scale solar costs fell eight per cent in 2025 for the second year in a row while batteries recorded an annual cost reduction of 20 per cent.
Merzian said, “The market has identified that the best possible option for replacing coal fired power is via renewables, backed up with storage.
“Investors are ready to deliver the renewable energy projects Australia needs. What we need now is bipartisan commitment to net-zero and a stable investment environment,” he said.
