The community campaign for a Victorian Renewable Energy Target that has been building for more than two years is coming to a head.

The Andrews government soon to release its Renewable Energy Action Plan which will set state targets for renewable energy and outline the policies to accomplish them.

The Victorian Greens reiterated their support for an ambitious VRETs this week with parliamentarian, Ellen Sandell MP, making the following statement to the Legislative Assembly:

Victorians want a Victorian Renewable Energy Target.

The Greens took this policy to the last election, and, although Labor refused to commit to it during the election campaign, we’re thrilled that they saw the mounting pressure from the community and will now make it happen.

As an announcement seems imminent, I want to make sure my Labor colleagues are aware of the community’s criteria for a successful VRET.

Firstly, the VRET must be a big enough to be actually effective.

Labor has talked about having a minimum of 20% renewables by 2020. This might sound nice, but in actual fact, because of the Federal RET, a target of 20% is essentially business as usual. It will do nothing to drive new renewable energy.

We need a target of much more than 20% if we want to build any new clean energy, and if we are serious about acting on climate change, we need a target that will take Victoria to 100% renewables as soon as possible.

Secondly, the VRET must come with a plan to phase out coal.

Currently we have too much coal power in the grid and because of the way the market works, this is locking out investment in new renewable energy.

A plan to build renewable energy will unfortunately be meaningless without eliminating at least some coal from our energy mix.

I urge the Labor Government to ensure the VRET is both large enough to be effective, and includes a phase out of coal.

In September 2015, Premier Daniel Andrews committed to set Victorian Renewable Energy Targets for 2020 and 2025, including a baseline target of at least 20 per cent by 2020 (but pledged to aim higher).

With a growing coalition of businesses, unions, community and environment groups supporting ambitious VRETs, the Andrews government can afford to aim high.

After all, the greater the ambition; the greater the benefits for creating jobs, attracting investment, and tackling climate change. Here are some simple ways you can support the push for VRET ambition…

TAKE ACTION:

• Send a message to Premier Daniel Andrews, Deputy-Premier James Merlino, and Treasurer Tim Pallas today. We’ve made it easy for you to have your say by putting together an online email tool. Click here to take action.
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