A study by United Kingdom-headquartered research company Compare the Market has forecast Australia’s renewable energy generation per capita ranks it tenth in the world for its net zero emissions target by 2050 and a projected 4.79 TWh of renewable generation per million people by 2028.
A renewables race index scores Australia 8.03, behind joint leaders Finland and Sweden with 9.61 and Norway, Austria, Canada, Denmark, New Zealand (8.69), Germany, Switzerland and the Netherlands falling between a rank of 9.35 to 8.29 respectively.
Australia’s 4.79 TWh per million people was found to be on par with Chile (4.74) and ahead of the United States (4.55), but 2.59 TWh behind New Zealand.
Compare the Market’s Head of Energy Meredith O’Brien said Australia placed tenth behind New Zealand and Canada, while European nations led the renewables race index with stronger investment policies and more ambitious net zero emissions targets.
“Amid cost-of-living pressures, Australian households today can already be a step ahead of each country’s renewable energy transition strategies by installing solar and battery storage systems to save money, alongside using smart plugs to adjust energy usage habits, and adopting more efficient LED lights and appliances,” O’Brien said.
“Renewable energy is simply cheaper to produce than relying on the highly volatile prices of coal and gas, particularly from wind and solar infrastructure.”
Thirty-nine countries were included in the study of their renewable generation forecast, taking in consideration future hydro, ocean, bioenergy, geothermal, solar, off and onshore wind, and renewables dedicated to hydrogen energy production.
The country with the highest forecast renewable generation in TWh per million people by 2028 was Norway in third place, pipped at the ranking post by Finland and Sweden because their zero targets are 15 and 5 years respectively, earlier than Norway’s 2050.
Canada in fourth place, is forecast to have 11.87 TWh per million people of renewable generation by 2028, which is greater than Australia, Norway, Sweden and Finland, but again lags in terms of its net zero target, which is again between 5 and 15 years to the leaders, at 2050.
The country with no net zero target is Mexico and though expected to produce 0.73 TWh of renewable energy by 2028 is scored zero compared to Australia’s 8.03, and the country with the longest net zero target of 2053, comes from Turkiye, ranked second last.
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