CANBERRA, Nov. 23 (Xinhua) -- Australian academics and business leaders have urged the nation's politicians to adopt an ambitious emissions reduction target (ERT).
The letter by the coalition of experts was released ahead of a Coalition of Australian Governments (COAG) meeting on Friday between the state and federal energy ministers.
The COAG meeting will focus on Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull's proposed national energy guarantee (NEG) which would set an ERT of 26 percent below 2005 levels, a figure on the lower end of Australia's commitment under the Paris agreement.
"All existing economic research suggests the cost of reducing greenhouse gas emissions are lower in the electricity sector in Australia than they are in most other sectors," the experts' letter, organized by the Australia Institute and released on Thursday, said.
"In other sectors, the technologies are not as mature and the opportunities for cheap abatement are more limited."
The letter was signed by dozens of academics, economists and business leaders, including Australian National University (ANU) economist Hugh Saddler and managing director of Future Super Simon Sheikh.
They said that the ERT must be "well above" 26 percent to restore investor confidence in the electricity market.
"We urge you to ensure the Neg's emissions guarantee is consistent with Australia's long-term interests," the letter said.
The NEG also set a renewable energy target (RET) of between 32 and 36 percent by 2030, well below the 50 percent recommended by Chief Scientist Alan Finkel in his review of the national energy market.
Turbull said the NEG would reduce electricity prices by 23 percent between 2020 and 2030, countering the skyrocketing price of energy in Australia.
