96% Of Australians Want Renewables As The Nation’s Primary Energy Source

Climate Of A Nation 2017 – The Climate Institute

A report released early this morning reveals a majority of Australians want our nation to be powered by renewable sources such as wind and solar, supported by energy storage.

The latest (and final) Climate Of A Nation report from the Climate Institute states 96% of Australians want our primary source of energy to come from renewables, with 58% wanting renewables supported by storage technologies and 38% preferring renewable energy supported by fossil fuels.

The report is based on a survey administered by Galaxy Research of more than 2,660 Australians, carried out between 12-19 April this year.

Other highlights from the report:

• 71% of Australians surveyed accept climate change is taking place.
• 66% have a high level of concern about climate change.
• 74% indicated a high level of concern regarding climate change destroying the Great Barrier Reef.
• 87% don’t want Australia to shy away from the Paris Agreement and 61% say we should work harder towards its objectives.
• 79% rank solar power in their top three preferred energy sources for the country.
• 81% believe individuals and households need to play a role in dealing with climate change.
• 64% want targets and actions implemented to achieve a net zero emissions Australia.
• 73% want strong action taken on climate change and energy for economic reasons.
• 41% feel the Federal Government is doing ” a fairly poor to terrible job” on the issues of climate change and energy, up substantially on last year.
• 71% want to see governments implementing incentives to foster renewable energy development.
• 72% think governments should implement a plan for the orderly closure of coal-fired power stations, replacing them with clean energy facilities.

“Australians recognise – to the tune of three quarters of the population – that the shift to clean energy presents a golden opportunity for economic development, investment and jobs,” said the Institute’s acting CEO, Olivia Kember. “Almost two thirds think Australia can and should be a world leader in this area, but they don’t see our leaders delivering, and so they are getting more and more fed up with argument instead of action on this issue.”

The full Climate Of A Nation 2017 report contains all sorts of other fascinating fact and figures and can be downloaded here (PDF)

On a sad note, the report is the final to be issued by the Climate Institute – it’s winding up operations at the end of this month. However, remaining funds and intellectual property will be transferred to The Australia Institute, which will carry on its important work. The Climate Institute has been operating since 2005, developing public and corporate policy solutions for addressing climate change and energy transformation issues.