Investing in cheaper, cleaner energy and the net zero transformation
Inquiry report
Released 19 / 12 / 2025
The PC was asked by the Australian Government to conduct an inquiry into Investing in cheaper, cleaner energy and the net zero transformation. As part of this work, we were tasked with identifying priority reforms and developing actionable recommendations.
In this final inquiry report, the PC presents recommendations focused on three key policy reform areas:
- Reducing the cost of meeting emissions targets
- Speeding up approvals for new energy infrastructure
- Addressing barriers to private investment in adaptation.
This inquiry report was handed to the Australian Government on 10 December 2025 and released on 19 December 2025.
Download the report
Inquiry report (PDF 1.8 MB)
Inquiry report (DOCX 9.1 MB)The following excel file contains tables of data used to make the figures within this report.
Chart data (Excel - 57.4 KB)
Chart data (Excel - 57.4 KB)The PC commissioned two consultants to undertake modelling in relation to recommendations 1.1 and 1.2.
Aurora Energy Research modelling relating to renewable energy targets
Cite: Aurora Energy Research (2025), NEM Wholesale Market Modelling, December 2025
NEM wholesale market modelling (PDF - 1.2 MB)RepuTex Energy modelling relating to the Safeguard Mechanism threshold
Cite: RepuTex Energy (2025), Summary results: scenarios for the cost of Safeguard Mechanism abatement, November 2025
Summary results: scenarios for the cost of Safeguard Mechanism abatement (PDF - 952.7 KB)Preliminaries: Cover, Copyright and publication detail, Transmittal letter, Terms of reference, Disclosure of interests, Acknowledgements and Contents
Executive summary
Recommendations
About this inquiry
- 1. Reducing the cost of meeting emissions targets
- Incentivise emissions reductions in electricity after 2030
- Improve incentives in heavy industry
- Fill gaps and eliminate overlaps in transport
- Assess and align policies against a benchmark
- 2. Speeding up approvals for new energy infrastructure
- Why speeding up approvals is important
- National environment laws
- Focus on priority projects
- Consider the energy transition in approval decisions
- 3. Addressing barriers to private investment in adaptation
- Adapting to climate change ahead of time can reduce impacts and save costs in the long run
- Strengthen national reporting, monitoring and evaluation of national adaptation policy
- Appendices
- A. Public consultation
- B. Quantifying the benefits of adaptation investment
- B.1 Summary
- B.2 Data
- B.3 Scenario design and methodology
- B.4 Findings
- B.5 Robustness
- Abbreviations
- References
Printed copies of this report can be purchased from Canprint Communications.
