Today’s announcement by NSW Premier, Morris Iemma of a 15% mandatory renewable energy target by 2020 is a significant step forward in Australia’s efforts to tackle climate change and build a strong clean energy industry.

State Governments are taking action on climate change while the Howard Government remains in denial.

By law, 15 per cent of electricity consumed in New South Wales in 2020 will have to come from renewable sources such as solar and wind.

The NSW Government is also committed to reducing greenhouse gas emissions to 2000 levels by 2025, and by 60 per cent by 2050 and has led efforts to establish a national emissions trading scheme.

While the NSW Government looks to a clean energy future, the Howard Government is frozen in time while the world warms around it.

The Howard Government’s appalling record on climate change has been recognised at the United Nations Climate Change Conference in Kenya, where they have received the meeting’s first Fossil of the Day Award.

John Howard represents the past. Labor is Australia’s Future Party, committed to ratifying the Kyoto Protocol, substantially increasing the Mandatory Renewable Energy Target, cutting greenhouse pollution by 60% by 2050 and establishing a national emissions trading scheme.