About 110,000 households will be able to receive $1bn in low-cost loans for double glazing, solar panels and other energy improvements in changes the Albanese government says will make homes cheaper to run and easier to keep cool and warm.
It’s part of a $1.6bn “energy savings plan” announced in Tuesday’s budget that includes $300m funding to improve social housing and $310m in tax deductions for businesses that invest in renewable energy and energy efficiency measures.
The government also announced $2bn for a “hydrogen headstart” program that it said would help two or three large-scale renewable hydrogen developments bridge the gap to being commercially viable. Experts say “green” hydrogen is likely to be crucial in manufacturing some products currently made using fossil fuels, such as steel and aluminium.
The treasurer, Jim Chalmers, said the global shift to clean energy was “Australia’s biggest opportunity for growth and prosperity”, and the government was making the “biggest ever investment in Australia’s energy transformation”.
On the natural environment, the budget included $121m to create an Environment Protection Australia (EPA) as part of an upcoming reform of conservation laws.
Household energy
The household energy savings plan was flagged in December as part of a Labor-Greens deal to pass laws that capped gas prices to limit the rise in electricity bills. The government agreed then there would be a “significant” budget package targeted at low-income people and renters.
It also follows a campaign led by Saul Griffith, a former energy adviser to the US government and now head of Rewiring Australia, who had suggested a $13.5bn package to electrify homes.
The climate change and energy minister, Chris Bowen, said Australia’s housing stock was mostly inefficient, reflected in the country being ranked 58th out of 63 countries for per capita energy use.
He said $1bn in loans and mortgages would be issued through a “household energy upgrades fund” run by the Clean Energy Finance Corporation. The CEFC would partner with banks to upgrade homes with “battery-ready solar PV, modern appliances and other improvements to keep them warmer in winter and cooler in summer”.
Eligibility criteria has not been decided. It will be worked out by the CEFC and finance providers. The scheme is expected to start next year.
Bowen said Australia’s social housing stock was particularly poor, having mostly been built before minimum building standards were introduced. He estimated upgrades would cut energy consumption by about a third for residents of 60,000 social housing homes.
Hydrogen
The government said the funding for green hydrogen – created using wind and solar energy – would put the country on track to have 1 gigawatt of electrolyser capacity by 2030. The budget promises $2bn in total, but only $156m over the next four years.
Though the extent of its future role remains unclear, green hydrogen has increasingly been backed by national governments, particularly the US through last year’s Inflation Reduction Act, which included A$527bn for clean energy – a figure so large it has prompted concern it would draw investment away from other countries.
Bowen said the hydrogen commitment would “position Australia to take advantage of the immense jobs and investment potential of the technology”. Chalmers said backing hydrogen would mean Wollongong, Gladstone and Whyalla could “make and export everything from renewable energy to green steel”.
Environmental protection
In Tanya Plibersek’s environment portfolio, the budget included $121m over four years to establish the EPA, and $51.5m for another new body, Environment Information Australia, to provide data on the threatened species and ecosystems. Plibersek said the EPA would be a “tough cop on the beat”.
There was $7.7m to help implement the government’s “nature repair market” legislation, which is currently before parliament and promises a framework for private investment in biodiversity protection. Guardian Australia reported on Tuesday the Coalition was likely to back the laws, which are an expansion of a pilot it proposed while in government.
Scientists have estimated about $1.7bn a year is needed to fix Australia’s degraded ecosystems and wild places.
Other measures
The budget also included:
$18m to reform management of Australia’s contentious carbon offsets scheme in line with recommendations from a review headed by Prof Ian Chubb. There was $5.9m to audit forest regeneration projects, which some experts say are not leading to real emissions cuts on the scale promised.
$872.5m in savings from scrapped water projects announced under the former Coalition government. It included $595m over seven years from axing the controversial Dungowan dam in NSW.
Previously announced measures including a net zero authority to help manage the shift to a clean economy; a capacity investment scheme to underwrite clean, dispatchable electricity generation; and $262.3m for upgrades to degraded national parks.
