The Authority is conducting research into mitigation policies in the electricity sector to compare the performance of a range of emissions reduction policies according to their volume of abatement, impacts on investment and output trends, resource cost and its distribution. The Authority is interested in the impacts of a wide range of policy options, including indicative variations to the existing RET.

The RET does not operate in isolation, but as one part of a set of policies affecting the electricity sector; the Authority is interested in the RET’s operation in conjunction with other policies. The Authority expects this work be collaborative and somewhat iterative, with the exact set of policy options determined in conjunction with the successful consultant. The aim of this research is to explore options and to help inform policy developments in the context of the Government’s 2014 Review of the RET and its development of the Emissions Reduction Fund.

The Australian Government has introduced legislated into Parliament to abolish the Authority and has announced that the Government will conduct a review of the RET in 2014. Until such legislation is passed, the Authority retains its statutory obligations to complete reviews due in late 2014 and early 2015, including a review of the RET, due at the end of 2014, and a review of Australia’s progress towards meeting national emissions reduction targets, due in early 2015.