Coalition vows to block green fund as Abbott criticised on emissions target

The Coalition has vowed to stymie the Government’s $10 billion renewable energy investment fund, throwing a key plank of Labor’s green energy package into doubt by saying the party will not guarantee the fund’s debt if it wins the next election.

The Clean Energy Finance Corporation, an independent body designed to make “commercial investments” in clean energy through loans, loan guarantees and equity investments, was announced this month.

Under the Government’s carbon tax plan, the Clean Energy Finance Corporation will provide investment over five years from 2013-14 and be funded by issuing debt.

But Andrew Robb, Shadow Minister for Finance and Debt Reduction, has described the plan as a “slush fund”.

“The ban on the ‘Bob Brown Bank’ from investing in Carbon Capture and Storage at the insistence of the Greens, despite its abatement potential as backed by Treasury, confirms this is dripping in politics,” Robb told SmartCompany.

“I’d like to foreshadow that a Coalition Government would block such a fund. We would not support government guaranteed borrowings or equity injections from borrowed money to finance what is effectively a slush fund. This is bad policy; dangerous policy.”

Meanwhile, Opposition Leader Tony Abbott has drawn criticism for casting doubt on the Coalition’s commitment to reducing carbon emissions by 5% by 2020 from 2000 levels in a meeting with seniors, and then later reaffirming the reduction targets.

Abbott yesterday said the “other crazy thing about this is that at the same time that our country is proposing to reduce its emissions by 5%, just 5%, the Chinese are proposing to increase their emissions by 500%.”

Abbott’s office this morning said the Coalition is committed to the emissions target, but Prime Minister Julia Gillard says Tony Abbott yesterday “apparently decided that cutting carbon is crap.”

“Tony Abbott apparently decided to bandwagon with Lord Monckton and say that this nation should do nothing,” Gillard told ABC Radio in Newcastle.