The Australian Renewable Energy Agency (ARENA) has had its main objective expanded with legislation passed to govern Australia’s approach to action on climate change.
Welcoming the change, the Chief Executive of ARENA, Darren Miller said the Climate Change (Consequential Amendments) Act 2022 expanded the main object of the ARENA Act to include an additional object – to ‘facilitate the achievement of Australia’s greenhouse gas emissions reduction targets’.
Mr Miller said the Consequential Amendments Act and Climate Change Act 2022 legislated Australia’s emissions reduction targets, including a 43 per cent emissions reduction by 2030 and net zero by 2050.
He committed the Agency to delivering on these new objectives.
“Australia’s climate targets have now been written into law and achieving them will require close collaboration between Government, industry and consumers,” Mr Miller said.
“ARENA is ready to deliver on these goals, building on our 10 years’ experience in improving the competitiveness and supply of renewable energy technologies in Australia,” he said.
“We’re excited by the challenge and the opportunity that these targets present and we look forward to playing an important role in helping Australia to achieve our medium and long term emissions reduction goals.”
Mr Miller said that since 2012, ARENA had supported 628 projects with $1.86 billion in grant funding, unlocking $8.05 billion of total investment in renewable energy.
