Australia's federal politicians have their "head in the sand" when it comes to the nation's need for a renewable energy future, with two thirds of coal plants becoming "technically obsolete" within a decade, the Climate Council says.
The Australian energy system is plagued by a range of problems, the coal power generators are inefficient and polluting and being threatened by worsening extreme weather, the council said in its Powering a 21st Century Economy report, released in Melbourne on Thursday
"The transition that is underway to renewables is inevitable," Climate Councillor Andrew Stock told reporters in Melbourne on Thursday.
"Coal technology is obsolete and we wouldn't run our households on old telephone systems or black and white TVs or our industry on old technology from last century.
"We have far more renewable resources than we can ever hope to use in this country, but we've just got our head in the sand when it comes to rolling out these technologies."
Mr Stock said if the federal government had the same sort of impetus as the states, the country would mobilise tremendous investment, add thousands of new jobs and create a system that would be reliable.
The council says people across Australia want to see more renewable energy backed by storage but there needs to be the "federal will to get on and do it".
Renewables backed by storage are the cheapest forms of reliable, clean energy that can power Australia this century, and the reason power prices are so high is the huge cost of fossil fuel, the report reads.
And stalling federal policy will deter investment in renewable energy.
"We need to have a clean energy target in place soon so people can plan investment going forward with certainty, or current momentum will die away and that scarce capital can go anywhere in the world," Mr Stock said.
The skills that have been built up are also at risk of going to other places around the world, he added.
Tackling climate change requires a "rapid transition" away from polluting sources of energy, with modelling showing Australia needs to shut two thirds of coal plants to play its role in keeping temperature rise below 2C, the report noted.
