Welcome approval for Snowy Hydro Scheme

Beyond Zero Emissions (BZE) has welcomed the Prime Minister, Minister for the Environment Minister and Minister for Energy and Emission Reductions’ announcement regarding the final environmental approvals of the Snowy Hydro Scheme 2.0.

“These types of big vision projects, which create jobs and guarantee clean and affordable energy for our country, closely aligns with the Million Jobs Plan released on Monday,” said Eytan Lenko, Chair of BZE.

“Only last week, the ABS reported 835,000 job losses since March. We need urgent action to work alongside Governments to restore our economy.  Like Snowy Hydro 2.0, The Million Jobs Plan provides a framework to enable projects that are practical, bankable and create jobs.

“We look forward to working with the Federal and State Governments over the coming weeks to present the most bankable projects, ready with private investment.

“We now have a unique opportunity to seize this moment, to re-tool, re-skill, and rebuild our battered economy to set us up for future generations.”

Beyond Zero Emissions is one of Australia’s most respected climate change think-tanks. We produce independent research which shows that zero emissions is technically feasible and affordable now.

The Million Jobs Plan maps out a bold job creation framework through:

• The acceleration of new energy transmission and storage projects to unleash an abundance of cheap, clean energy and position Australia a true global renewable energy superpower.
• Implementing a national housing retrofit program targeted at eliminating bills for 2.5 million low-income households.
• Building 150,000 new zero-energy social housing dwellings.
• Building electrified transport infrastructure such as electric bus fleets with localised and regional manufacturing.
• Land restoration to help fragile ecosystems recover from the devastation of the bushfires.
• Stimulus spending to electrify industry, creating new markets and realising the vision of Australia becoming the natural home for energy-intensive manufacturing.
• The upgrade of our aluminium smelters to flexibly ramp up or down to run off renewables, giving them extra sources of revenue and guaranteeing long-term security for their workers.
• The development of green steel produced with hydrogen.