MRC Report: Leap into the Dark

the Cost of Australia’s Energy Plan and the Risk of Failure

Published: April 2024

Author: Sabine Schnittger, Principal Economics

Introduction: Nick Cater

The MRC commissioned a study that attempts to calculate the cost of transition to a net-zero emission economy by 2050 using published data from the Australian Energy Market Operator (AEMO).

We do not pretend that the $320 billion figure estimated by AEMO represents the final bill. We are confident the total cost will be considerably higher for reasons outlined in the report.

Yet the report's findings confirm that Australians were badly misled by the modelling that underpinned Labor’s policy of achieving a 43 per cent reduction in emissions by the end of the decade.