Going green 'would cost $1200 a year'

AAP

WOULD you be willing to help beat climate change for $1200 a year?

A new report says Australia could power itself entirely by renewable energy within a decade, halving the country's greenhouse gas emissions.

But there's a price tag of $1200 for every adult and child for every year until 2020.

The report, written by engineers and consultants for the Beyond Zero Emissions group, sets aside the debate over the shelved emissions trading scheme (ETS) and takes a new approach.

It looks at the technical feasibility and cost of switching off coal-fired power stations and moving to renewables.

The report says the best option for Australia is a network of large solar-thermal power plants with the ability to store electricity, plus more wind farms.

That would cost $37 billion a year, although the report says it would pay for itself in the long term because Australia would otherwise have to build new coal-fired power stations and be at the mercy of higher prices for fossil fuels.

Liberal senator Judith Troeth, who crossed the floor to vote for the ETS last year, launched the report at Parliament House on Tuesday.

While the Liberals' official policy is to have no ETS or carbon price but rather to reduce emissions by five per cent by direct grants, Senator Troeth is more ambitious.

"It's very important that we are not left waiting for the rest of the world," she said.

Senator Troeth, who is standing down at the next election, described her party's climate policy as "a start".

"I'd rather my party had a climate policy than not had one," she said.

Along with Senator Troeth, former opposition leader Malcolm Turnbull is still advocating a carbon price, in opposition to Liberal party policy.

The Australian Greens and independent senator Nick Xenophon also supported the Beyond Zero Emissions report.