World Economic Forum delivers negative ranking to Australia on power prices and emissions

Australian businesses are struggling under the weight of power prices which are ranked among the most expensive in the world, a damning new report has found.

Australia was marked behind more than 100 countries for its heavy reliance on coal.

Australian businesses are struggling under the weight of power prices that are ranked among the most expensive in the world, a damning new ­report has found.

The World Economic Forum has also marked Australia behind more than 100 countries for its heavy reliance on coal and its failure to reduce carbon emissions.

The forum’s annual energy transition index, released ­yesterday, found virtually no progress had been made over the past five years in the world’s transition to affordable, secure and sustainable energy.

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Australia ranked at 43 out of 115 countries on a combined measure judging the performance of national energy ­systems and the readiness of countries to produce cheaper and more environmentally friendly power.

The report put Australia, Canada and South Korea as the only advanced economies outside of the index’s top ­quartile “due to the high ­carbon intensity of their fuel mix, and high per capita ­energy consumption and ­carbon emissions”.

“Affordability is emerging as a growing concern in ­advanced economies, as the gap between household and wholesale electricity prices ­increases,” the report said.

Australia was marked behind more than 100 countries for its heavy reliance on coal.

With the report finding 63 per cent of our electricity came from coal-fired power stations, with only 14 per cent from ­renewable sources, Australia performed poorly compared to other countries, with Sweden, Switzerland and Norway’s energy systems leading the way.

World Economic Forum head of future of energy Roberto Bocca said urgent action was needed to accelerate the transition to more affordable and sustainable power.

The forum’s analysis comes amid reports Prime Minister Scott Morrison and Nationals leader Michael McCormack are working on a peace deal over coal-fired power after months of agitating from ­backbench Nationals MPs for the government to prop up the industry.

Prime Minister Scott Morrison and Deputy Prime Minister Michael McCormack. Picture: Gary Ramage

Mr Morrison said the ­Coalition was working “constructively to ensure that Australia has a sustainable and reliable energy future”.

He hit out at Opposition Leader Bill Shorten for refusing to say how a Labor government would meet its target of ­reducing carbon emissions by 45 per cent by 2030, including whether it would use carry-over carbon credits.

Mr Shorten said Labor would reach its final position “very soon” and had already put out several major climate and energy policies, including for Australia to reach zero net emissions by 2050.

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Originally published as World Economic Forum delivers negative ranking to Australia on power prices and emissions