Praise for the ACT government's 100 per cent renewable energy target by 2025 has come from the highest authority - the European Union's first commissioner for climate action.
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Speaking in Canberra at the Global Renewables Forum, former Danish minister for climate and energy Connie Hedegaard said the decision to become the first capital city in Australia powered solely by clean energy was a "strong signal" that the "future belongs to renewables."
"It's very positive, it's the way the world needs to go in my mind," Ms Hedegaard said.
"Our experience from Europe is if you put up targets, if you get the pricing right, if you put standards and regulations in place in good time so that industry can adapt to what is coming, it is possible for all of us to change track."
The former EU commissioner was in Canberra on Thursday to discuss how the energy industry and governments can produce renewable solutions to global energy demand.
Her policies made Denmark the first country in the world to commit to an overall energy reduction, not just a reduction in greenhouse gas emissions.
Ms Hedegaard said the renewables sector added half a million jobs to the European economy during their severe economic crisis.
"I think it's fair to say there is a general acceptance in Europe that we have to go low-carbon. They don't see it as red tape or green tape, they see it as a rational thing to do," Ms Hedegaard said.
"I think maybe contrary to the Australian debate, in Europe it seems people realise that continuing business as usual doesn't come for free – it comes with a price tag in the form of more climate change, more need for adaptation which is also costly."
Environment minister Simon Corbell said Denmark's influence in the international uptake of large-scale renewable energy generation has been significant.
"They've shown for a relatively small nation, smaller than Australia and certainly smaller than some of our larger states, just how effective it is to integrate large-scale energy generation into the electricity supply," he said.
He said based on the three wind farms currently under construction and two solar projects in the pipeline, the ACT is on track to meet their target of 60 per cent renewables by 2017.
And by calling for bids in a second wind auction which could power up to 106,000 Canberra homes, he said the government is also on schedule to meet its target of 80 per cent renewables by 2018.
"Even though we're a very small city state, we've shown through a smart range of policy measures we can very quickly encourage the uptake of clean energy at scale and at the same time deliver jobs and investment in our city, into our university and research sector, into our economy as a whole," Mr Corbell said.
"I think increasingly Canberra can be considered as [a leader in the renewable energy sector] and hopefully that's something we can continue to build."
