It is concerning when Parliamentary Committee on energy ignores Climate Change, and promotes environmentally damaging practices.

We need an Integrated Resource Plan (IRP) that is to the benefit of our people and our environment. The energy committee overseeing the plan isn’t prioritising climate change. It seems to align itself with the views of the coal and nuclear industries.

Electricity prices impact on everybody. Climate change and environmental degradation impacts on everybody. These impacts wont be experienced equally, but they are felt by all citizens to some extent. This is why decision makers in the energy sector must take action on climate change. They must prioritise environmental concerns and they must ensure the least-cost production of electricity within these bounds. This would constitute acting in the public interest.

So it is deeply concerning when members of the Portfolio Committee on Energy promote environmentally damaging practices, promote technologies that will increase the cost of electricity and completely ignore climate change. Compounding this concern is that it happened in a context where they were not meant to be pushing their views in the first place.

They were meant to be assessing if a document summarising public comments was a fair reflection. It became a platform that seemingly pushed personal agendas. This has left a lot of questions about whether they are indeed acting in the public interest, despite their claims that this is what they are doing. 

Read the full article here 

Or download the article – The IRP: Members of the parliamentary energy committee ignoring the impact of climate change