garnaut draft report friday, page-5

From Chapter 16 (Research, Development and Innovation):

"Australia should make a proportionate contribution alongside other developed countries, in its areas of national interest and comparative research advantage. This would require a large increase in Australian commitments to research, development and commercialisation of low‑emissions technologies, to over $3 billion per annum."

"A wide variety of new and existing technologies were highlighted in submissions to the Review as being potential contributors to Australia’s mitigation task. A selection of these is set out on in Table 16.1.

Table 16.1 Technologies relevant to mitigation cited in submissions to the Review
Industry Technology type Organisation/individual
Electricity generation
Geothermal (hot rocks)
Australian Geothermal Energy Group, Australian
Geothermal Energy Association Geodynamics Ltd,
Geogen Pty Ltd ..."

"16.2.4 Where could additional funding for early
research come from?

One possibility is that existing funds allocated to relevant research areas could be consolidated and reallocated by the proposed research council. However there are good reasons for not reallocating all existing funding. Firstly, it is important to maintain the continuity in the allocation of existing funds. Secondly, it is beneficial to maintain some plurality of funding sources; general institutions can co-exist with specific funding bodies, thereby ensuring that no one body holds the purse strings for all the funding in any one area. Some existing funding arrangements may continue on this basis, but a review of all programs may be warranted to identify those that are yielding limited returns on investment.

Additional funds for early research in low-emissions technologies could come from the revenue from the auctioning of emissions permits. The allocation of a consistent level of annual permit revenue towards public good research in fields relevant to low-emissions technologies could form the major portion of funds to be allocated by the proposed research council. It is sensible to use permit revenue to fund early research because there are strong links between the early research effort, the long-term cost of mitigation and the carbon price. More early research in low-emissions technologies should, over time, lower the longterm cost of mitigation and thus the carbon price.

All commitments of funds for early research would qualify under the International Low Emissions Technology Commitment proposed in section 13.1. "

From Chapter 17: (Network infrastructure market failures)

"Key points

There is a risk that network infrastructure market failures relating to electricity grids and carbon dioxide transport systems could increase the cost of adjustment to a low-emissions economy.
The role of the proposed national transmission planner should be expanded to include a long-term economic approach to transmission planning and funding.
A similar planning approach is necessary to ensure that network infrastructure failures do not unnecessarily delay deployment of large-scale carbon capture and storage.
The Building Australia Fund should be extended to cover energy infrastructure.
There is a case for special feed-in tariffs for household electricity generation and co-generation. The case can be quantified by reference to timing and transmission considerations.
A well-integrated national energy network with the capacity to cope with potentially large shifts in flows will allow for structural change and the smoothing of shocks following the introduction of an emissions trading scheme and recent fuel price volatility."