Alcoa calls for urgent RET resolution

Aluminium company Alcoa has called for a deal to be made on the Renewable Energy Target, saying the policy uncertainty is weighing on the industry which is struggling in Australia, ABC Online reports.

The aluminium sector is presently exempted from about 70% of the cost of the RET, but both Labor and the Coalition have agreed they are willing to fully exempt the industry under a compromise deal. However, Labor walked away from talks on the RET last month due to disagreements in other areas, most notably the overall 2020 gigawatt-hour target.

Tim McAuliffe, Alcoa Australia's head of government relations, called for a solution to the impasse so that the aluminium industry – whose RET cost is about 2.5% of revenue – could have certainty.

"[It's] a very, very significant cost that comes on top of a lot of other costs," Mr McAuliffe said, according to the ABC.

"When you look at them all, and you put that in the context of an industry that is struggling in Australia, it makes it really important and it makes it [a compromise] urgent."

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