Wide support for energy plan: minister

Energy Minister Josh Frydenberg says an endorsement of the government's new electricity policy from American coal isn't the only backing it has received.

American coal miners might be keen on Australia's new energy policy but so too are wind farms, small business, and big power users, the Turnbull government says.

At the UN climate conference in Bonn this week, Peabody Energy's head of coal power and emissions technology Holly Krutka applauded Australia for having changed the conversation over coal.

Coal power with new technology plants had "fallen off the table as an option" but the national energy guarantee had put it back on, she said.

But Environment Minister Josh Frydenberg points out US coal is not the only endorser of his policy.

"There's been widespread support from a diverse range of sectors including the energy companies themselves as they recognise the national energy guarantee can help break the impasse that has existed in climate and energy policy in Australia for over a decade," he told AAP in Bonn.

"Unfortunately that political contest has overshadowed some of the excellent work that is being done in a host of other sectors of the economy to reduce emissions."

The government's new policy requires electricity retailers to buy a portion of power from reliable sources and another portion from generators below an emissions threshold, but the plan needs agreement from the states to make it happen.

While at the UN climate talks, Mr Frydenberg has met US President Donald Trump's environment adviser David Banks for what he described as very constructive talks.

He's also met ministers and representatives from Indonesia, Malaysia, Fiji, China, Japan, and New Zealand, plus his UK counterpart earlier in the week before arriving in Bonn.


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Published 16 November 2017 8:58am
Source: AAP

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