Friends of the Earth has partnered with Ethical Switch for an 8 week fundraising campaign to focus on the impact that a household’s energy choices can make on the environment. The more we make the move to renewable energy, the more pressure is placed on the unconventional gas industry and the cleaner our country becomes.

Ethical Switch presents a comparison of all electricity providers within an area in terms of carbon emissions, renewable energy investment and customer satisfaction. By choosing one of their high rated providers, customers are directly supporting investment in renewable energy in Australia.

Friends of the Earth has welcomed the Andrews government's commitment to a Victorian Renewable Energy Target, and has highlighted the need for ambition to attract investment and create jobs while tackling climate change. 

The Andrews government announced a Renewable Energy Target of no less than 20 per cent by 2020 while launching its Renewable Energy Roadmap in Portland today. It has committed to establish targets for 2020 and 2025 and it will seek the community's views on what they should be.

Friends of the Earth welcomes the Andrew government's commitment to reinstating a Victorian Renewable Energy Target. 

The organisation, representing thousands of Victorians, join the call for Prime Minister Abbott to remove roadblocks to state leadership on renewable energy.

"The Abbott government is playing politics over the fate of the Renewable Energy Target (RET). Its actions have seen investment collapse by 90 per cent and 2,500 job losses,” says Leigh Ewbank, Friends of the Earth’s renewable energy spokesperson.

The Australian and Senator John Madigan aren’t even pretending the current senate wind energy inquiry is impartial. Both have referred to the Senate Select Committee on Wind Turbines as an “inquisition.”

What a vista!… One of Portland’s four wind farms.

As the policking around the Renewable Energy Target continues in Canberra, communities in regional Victoria are standing up for the scheme.

Bob Massie is the outgoing President and CEO of the New Economy Coalition, whose mission is to support a just transition to a new economy that enables both thriving communities and ecological health. He has degrees from Princeton and Yale and a doctorate in business policy from Harvard University. In 2011, he was a candidate for the US Senate. He was the keynote speaker in a recent Australian tour organised by 350.org Australia and Earthworker Cooperative – “Just Transitions” – discussing the development of new economies that better support people and the planet. Massie advocates for the transition to a clean energy economy to include people currently working in the fossil fuel industry.

Corporate giants like Apple, have been heavily investing in renewable energy projects. This is now not only seen to be a financially sound move, but a major public relations activity. 

Three wind farm’s will supply the ACT with 200 megawatts of renewable energy generation capacity, with a reduction of 580,000 tonnes of emissions each year. This is a serious emissions reduction effort from the ACT Government with broader economic benefits. 

The concept of a 100% renewable towns may have seemed farfetched in the past, but stories from many countries are starting to surface proving that such a target is possible. In Burlington VT, electricity supply comes from all renewable sources.