Australian's love clean technology, and they're not afraid to say it

Recently, the Clean Energy Council (CEC) released an analysis that showed 99% of the submissions to the RET review were in support of the scheme.

23,272 submissions came from community campaigns, in addition to 865 detailed individual or representative group submissions. All of the community submissions were positive, and 87% of the individual submissions were positive. The CEC’s press release is here.

There’s incredibly strong public support for renewable energy. It’s not just something we say – there’s strong evidence for this claim, and we thought it was worth summarising the various pieces of evidence that buttress this assertion. While these analyses can’t necessarily be compared to each other, they’re important ways of showing that the public strongly support clean energy.

The Climate Institute

In the Climate Institute’s 2014 ‘Climate of the Nation’ report, part of their polling, conducted by JWS Research (with a sample size of 1,145) looked at the public’s view on the alteration (and retention) of the Renewable Energy Target (RET). 71% of the respondents think the target should stay at 20% by 2020, or be increased.

Essential Vision

Two Essential Vision polls are relevant. The first, published on 29 July 2014 shows the preferred course of action, after the repeal of the Government’s carbon-pricing mechanism. Even amongst voters for the Liberal/National party, the preferred course of action is the incentivisation of renewable energy:

The second, published on 15 July 2014, shows that between the months of February and July, a group of people moved from the ‘About Right’ and ‘Don’t Know’s to the ‘Too Low’ group.

Crosby Textor

This is an older piece of polling, by international consulting firm Crosby Textor. The polling was published in May 2013, prior to the election of the current Government. The pollsters worked for Prime Minister Tony Abbott’s election campaign in 2010, Campbell Newman’s campaign in Queensland, and Mayor of London Boris Johnson’s campaign.

The Institute of Public Affairs

The IPA has publicly opposed the Renewable Energy Target, but Alan Moran, director of the IPA’s ‘deregulation unit’, describes the outcomes of a Galaxy poll they commissioned in this article, for the Australian Financial Review (AFR). It found that 76% of respondents want the RET retained at its current level or increased.

You can read more about the Clean Energy Council’s polling here, and you can read a piece I wrote for The Guardian, in a personal capacity, here.