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Federal Energy Minister Martin Ferguson described the Powering Australia yearbook as providing a catalyst for the robust dialogue needed between industry and policymakers that is critical to ensuring Australia’s future energy security when he launched the publication at Parliament House, Canberra, on 16 November. The 2010 edition’s theme — securing Australia’s energy future — could not be more timely, he said.

Increases in the cost of electricity and increases in demand, particularly peak demand, are headline issues today at a time when more and more Australians face cost of living pressures, he acknowledged. The government is receiving a clear message from industry that policymakers need to get policy settings right, he added.

Ferguson noted that achieving the government’s target of reducing national emissions by 2020 to five per cent below 2000 levels will require a cut of 144 million tonnes from projected business-as-usual emissions and a reduction of 51 million tonnes below actual 2008 emissions. “This is no easy task at a time when uncertainty is clouding investment decisions,” he said.

Australia needs to decouple economic growth from greenhouse gas growth in order to transition to a low carbon economy, he told guests at the launch.

Copies of the Powering Australia 2010 yearbook (RRP $Aust29.95) can be ordered from the publishers Focus Publishing by email to Sam Collier, client service executive, at this address: sam.collier@halledit.com.au.

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