2020 Summiteers met in Canberra over one weekend from 19 to 20 April 2008 to discuss the agenda for the nation and ignite some ideas to move it forward. Launching the 2020 Summit’s Final Report, Prime Minister Kevin Rudd said “We wanted to shake the tree in free and open forums and see what good ideas fell out, ideas that will make Australia an even better place in the future.” Ideas about Australia’s sustainable energy future came from two such summit trees, with two of the summit’s ten broad streams most directly relevant to the clean energy sector.

Population, sustainability, climate change, water and Australia’s cities

Chaired by Roger Beale, Senior Associate with The Allen Consulting Group, and Minister for Climate Change and Water Penny Wong, the ‘Population, Sustainability, Climate Change, Water and the Future of our Cities’ stream expressed the aspiration that by 2020 Australia will be the world’s leading green and sustainable economy.

The stream echoed the general sentiment of the summit in terms of the significance of integrating various considerations, such as the environment, into the economic decision-making matrix of households, businesses and governments.

The stream emphasised the significance of a robust emissions trading system and a suite of complementary measures to drive a low carbon revolution. Participants agreed that the urgency of responding to climate change makes it imperative that the emissions trading scheme and the ensuing long-run carbon price drive a transition to clean energy technologies.

In its submission to the 2020 summit, the Clean Energy Council emphasised five practical mechanisms to achieve these aims:

1. An economy-wide emissions trading system (which includes a price on carbon and a cap on greenhouse emissions) 2. Removing systemic barriers to allow for energy diversification and development 3. A market mechanism – a renewable energy target of 20 per cent by 2020 and increasing if necessary 4. Research and development funding to develop new technology and speed-up commercialisation of emerging clean technologies 5. Energy efficiency targets to reduce growth demand.

Other key ideas discussed in the stream included:

* A national clean energy portfolio of several flagship projects — in ‘natural advantage’ categories such as agriculture, clean coal and renewable sources of energy. * A world-class climate change education program (leveraging a natural advantage) that includes developing applied science capacity, green economy skills and training, a clean energy corps, and ‘eco-education’ embedded in school curricula.

However, while the participants in the stream were unified on a number of points, there was some contentious discussion on terms such as ‘clean technology’ and ‘clean energy’ and the extent to which clean coal and nuclear energy can be considered renewable sources of energy. There was also heated discussion on the role of targets, such as renewable energy targets and energy efficiency targets, and whether these are needed to complement an emissions trading scheme.

Australia’s future economy

Chaired by former Westpac CEO Dr David Morgan and Federal Treasurer Wayne Swan, the second major stream, entitled ‘The Future of Australian Economy’, raised the significant question of what options we should be exploring in energy production.

Discussion of these ideas led the group to agree that the infrastructure imperative is to create a regulatory and institutional framework that allows timely and efficient investment. The group also discussed the impact of addressing climate change, including through an emissions trading regime, on infrastructure and transport. It was noted that energy pricing issues will be critical to future investment in economic infrastructure the discussion also emphasised the need to set clear directions and market signals for a carbon trading regime.

The Council’s submission to the summit also highlighted that substantial work needs to be done in addressing the critical infrastructure shortage in the stationary energy sector, adding that finding ways to encourage private investment in such infrastructure is a critical success factor in Australia’s energy and greenhouse abatement future.

The 2020 Summit was preceded by the Youth Summit, for whom sustainability and climate change were a significant focus. The Youth Summit expressed the ambition that by 2020 Australia would be carbon neutral and run on energy from renewable sources.