Deloitte finds strong appetite from Australians for net zero, but says the incentives need reworking

Deloitte says incentives and rebates available don’t reach the right Australians and the scheme fails to help enough lower and middle-income households go green.

Incentives available to encourage people to go green should be reworked and targeted, according to professional services firm Deloitte, which says current settings are preventing a greater proportion of people from making the switch.

Currently various state and territory governments offer a range of incentives and rebates to drive the take up of electric vehicles, from free registration in the ACT to a $6000 rebate in Queensland, while $1400 is up for grabs from the Commonwealth to help install solar panels.

But with the cheapest EV on the market priced at $38,890 for a BYD Dolphin compared to a $21,150 petrol-powered Toyota Yaris, Deloitte national lead partner, power, utilities and renewables Sandra James said such incentives were of little use to younger Australians who may not have that much money floating around.

“The barrier around affordability for some of the solutions at the moment excludes a sizeable chunk of the population,” she said.

“For example, about 70 per cent of Tesla owners are over 50, but we know that those under 40 are the ones who are really interested in going electric.”

Deloitte said governments could strategically deploy initiatives in grants, incentives and policy that emphasised the financial benefits of change, but at the same time there was an ongoing need for educational and marketing campaigns to raise awareness and knowledge around energy-­efficient practices.

Ms James said the uptake of greener technologies had accelerated over the past few years with strong penetration for solar and EVs, but could be higher with a more targeted approach to ensure incentives helped those who needed them to overcome the hurdles.

“We floated about the potential need for something more targeted at lower and middle income around some of these technologies to overcome those barriers,” she said. “A lot of the incentives traditionally have been paid directly through to consumers. Is there a way that industry could get involved so that there’s a more ­effective and efficient rollout of some of these solutions?”

Ms James said getting the mix right needed to be the collective responsibility of consumers, government and business.

It comes as Deloitte’s A People Powered Transition survey showed that there was widespread support for net zero with 58 per cent backing the shift to a carbon-free economy by 2050.

The survey also showed that those facing financial hardship exhibited only a slightly lower likelihood of feeling personal responsi­bility at 60 per cent compared to those who did not have concerns about upcoming energy bills (68 per cent).

The report highlighted that product and technology investments, particularly real-time monitoring, should be prioritised, and incorporating financial management measures, such as sustainable loan products and economic guidance, would further encourage the widespread adoption of renewable energy ­solutions.

While households were being slugged with soaring energy bills and higher mortgage repayments, the report showed that 50 per cent of consumers facing some form of financial hardship were still willing to pay a premium for renewable energy solutions.