The Turnbull government wants to use money meant for clean energy to fund new coal power. That means your money could soon be financing risky, dirty and expensive coal. The Federal Energy Minister Josh Frydenberg has flagged changing the rules of the Clean Energy Finance Corporation (CEFC) so it can finance coal power, the most expensive and polluting form of new energy generation. Now, the CEFC has received a funding request for $1.2 billion for a coal-fired power plant from an unidentified company.
The CEFC is Australia’s ‘clean energy bank.’ It gives loans to commercially viable renewable energy projects and, on average, makes a healthy return of 6% on investment for the taxpayer. The CEFC does not currently invest in coal because it is not clean enough and it is not profitable enough. To change the rules, the Energy and Environment Minister Josh Frydenberg or Finance Minister Mathias Cormann can simply issue a new directive to fritter funds for clean, renewable projects away on dirty coal generation. Can you write to Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull, Minister Josh Frydenberg and Minister Mathias Cormann, telling them to spend clean energy funding on clean energy, not dirty and risky coal?