“Australia cannot hope to transform into a renewable energy powerhouse while neither the Government nor the industry are interested in making it happen,” Australian Greens Deputy Leader and Climate Change Spokesperson, Senator Christine Milne, said.
“Renewable energy technologies are already capable of replacing coal if governments and industry come together to make it happen.
“But the Rudd Government refuses to do anything to challenge coal’s dominance, and the domestic renewable energy industry seems unable to effectively promote itself.
“The establishment of IRENA shows that Australia’s renewable energy reticence is not shared by the rest of the world.
“If the Rudd Government signs and ratifies the IRENA founding treaty, its hypocrisy will be on global show. If it fails to sign, it will only be the Australian people who will come face to face with the hypocrisy of the Government they so recently elected on a platform of climate action.”
IRENA aims to drive “a rapid transition towards the widespread and sustainable use of renewable energy on a global scale” by providing technical and policy advice to industrialised and developing countries, as well as promoting renewable energy on the global stage.
“The Australian renewable energy industry needs to take inspiration from the establishment of IRENA and start to speak up for itself instead of accepting scraps from the table,” Senator Milne concluded.
All information about IRENA can be found at http://www.irena.org/