The WWF says Australia has the opportunity to ramp up its role in the booming renewable energy market.
The foundation’s new chief executive in Australia, Dermot O’Gorman, says the market is changing and if Australia wants to keep up with China it needs to capitalise on the clean energy market and its relationship with Asian power.
“I think that relationship will move from us providing natural resources to fuel their economy into a much more complex relationship,” Mr O’Gorman said.
“And I think the renewable energy sector needs to be thinking more about how much they can strengthen their collaboration, where they position Australia better in a global low-carbon economy.”
Mr O’Gorman has been in the job for just six weeks but already he has big plans. He has held previous roles in the UK, Switzerland, the Pacific islands and China.
His most recent work in China has given him an extraordinary insight into the renewable energy market.
In the next decade Mr O’Gorman says China will deliver Australia the “low-cost energy solution it needs”.
“The dual track of meeting a growing need for energy and turning that need into a business opportunity as well is what the Chinese see,” he said.
“Couple that with China’s ability to mass market things in terms of cost then they export to the rest of the world.
“They’re positioning themselves to be a global leader in renewable energy products.”
In fact, it has been confirmed China has overtaken the US in total renewable energy investments.
Last year China spent $34.6 billion on renewable energy. That is just private investment, but the Chinese government is helping.
As the world’s biggest energy consumer - up from 9 per cent in 2008 - it has set a target of 15 per cent of electricity to be renewable power by 2020.
And it is on track to meet this target and companies globally are itching to get in on the act.
Mr O’Gorman says there are a number of reasons China is leading the way. Firstly, it needs electricity and a lot of it.
“And they’re looking for every option to provide that and they have identified renewable energy as the way to restructure their economy as they move to a more value-added economy over the next couple of decades.
“They’re already a leader in providing photovoltaic cells. They’re already in partnership with companies from around the world and that trend is just going to continue.”
The other reason is that China does not want to rely on the uncertainty of oil supplies in the future, and renewable power like wind and solar fit the bill.
Plus China wants to be a technology leader. In 10 years it does not want to be playing catch up.
It wants to be the country delivering the solution and reaping the huge financial benefits.
